Hong Kong police log 15 per cent surge in scams in January, despite integration of anti-fraud app into major payment system
- Police also find 3,238, or 42 per cent, of all crimes logged in first month of this year were scams, amid city’s ongoing battle with fraudsters
- ‘Online scams continue to be the most common method of deception, accounting for nearly 68 per cent of our overall fraud cases,’ security official warns
Hong Kong police recorded a 15 per cent year-on-year surge in scams in January, despite earlier efforts to integrate the force’s “Scameter” fraud detection app into a major payment system, resulting in 180 alerts per hour over a three-month period.
According to the force, 3,238, or 42 per cent, of all crimes logged in the first month this year were scams. There were 2,817 fraud cases in the corresponding period last year.
“Online scams continue to be the most common method of deception, accounting for nearly 68 per cent of our overall fraud cases,” Undersecretary for Security Michael Cheuk Hau-yip said on Tuesday.
“The prevalent patterns still revolve around online shopping scams, including cases where victims are tricked into providing their credit card information, phishing and investment fraud.”
The surge in scams contributed to the 21 per cent increase in the overall number of crimes to 7,681 in January.
Other crimes that saw a substantial rise included thefts, which increased 32.4 per cent to 2,108 and “naked-chat blackmail” cases, which skyrocketed almost 15 times to 161.
Naked-chat blackmail is a form of online extortion where swindlers trick their targets into removing their clothes during a video call and secretly record them, before threatening to circulate the footage if they refuse to pay.
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Cheuk also warned the public to be cautious of new tactics such as deepfake videos that impersonated government officials promoting investment plans or mimicked friends of potential victims.
“When you encounter such situations, it is crucial to verify the authenticity of the information, especially when you are being requested to deposit money to bank accounts that you are not familiar with,” he said.
In a bid to clamp down on fraudsters, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority last November revamped its Faster Payment System, or FPS, by improving notification of potential risks for users before transactions were carried out.
Under the change-up, alerts are sent to users before they confirm a payment if the payee’s proxy IDs is listed as “high risk” on police’s Scameter database.
The database contains information on suspicious web addresses, phone numbers, emails, platform usernames and IP addresses.
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Cheuk on Tuesday said the system had issued about 400,000 alerts within the three months of its launch, averaging between 150 and 180 alerts per hour.
The total value of money involved in the halted transactions was nearly HK$6 million, equivalent to about HK$270,000 per hour, he added.
In 2017, police’s anti-deception coordination centre started operating a round-the-clock anti-scam helpline 18222 for residents who suspect that they have fallen prey to scams.
The force in recent years has also stepped up efforts to combat scams, such as launching publicity campaigns to educate the public on how to deal with suspected fraudulent messages with links.
Police in 2020 also came up with an anti-scam mascot “the little grape”, a Cantonese pun meaning “beware of liars”.
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Two years later, authorities launched the Scameter search engine and mobile app, with the one-stop anti-scam platform being downloaded 300,000 times.
The app was upgraded last month to trigger automatic pop-up reminders on the mobile devices of people who receive calls from suspicious phone numbers or visit dubious websites.
Francis Fong Po-kiu, an honorary president of the Hong Kong Information Technology Federation, said the government needed to ascertain how many residents had truly benefited from these anti-fraud initiatives and campaigns.
“I would question how many people actually use Scameter to check suspicious links or call 18222 for inquiries. It is crucial for police to assess the effectiveness of these tools and make improvements as scams are evolving rapidly,” he said.
“The public often doesn’t have a chance to inquire before falling victim. It is essential for police to stay informed about the latest methods used by fraudsters in order to update and enhance the effectiveness of their tools.”
Fight Crime Committee member Chong Chong-yip said the Anti-Deception Alliance, formed in November last year, had played a crucial role in combating fraud by allowing employees from the 10 major banks to be stationed at police headquarters.
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“It fosters direct and real-time communication and cooperation in intercepting fraudulent funds and issuing alerts. Since the alliance formed, the response time of banks in intercepting fraudulent funds has seen an average reduction of 70 per cent,” Chong said.
The city recorded 90,276 crimes last year, a 28.9 per cent rise from the year before.
Undersecretary Cheuk also revealed 615 sets of surveillance cameras would be installed across the city’s 18 districts, with the first 15 sets to be deployed in Mong Kok. The remainder would be set up by the middle of the year, he added.
He also stressed the cameras would only capture footage in public areas, while operating procedures would comply with the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance and police guidelines.
“Our cameras do not have tracking or facial recognition capabilities, but we don’t rule out the possibility of incorporating other applicable technologies in the future to enhance our anti-crime efforts in crime hotspots,” he said.
“The footage will be kept for 30 days in general unless there is a specific need for extending the period.”
