Hong Kong police chief says law enforcement, banks stepping up scam prevention, as phone deception cases drop in first quarter
- Police Commissioner Raymond Siu praises support from financial institutions day after high-level meeting with representatives from 28 banks
- City reported 597 phone scam cases in first quarter, down 48 per cent from 1,444 in final three months of last year
“Can banks have better intelligence sharing among themselves? Or can banks detect and trace the flow of illicit money in real time? As such, they could tell the police and we could act on that immediately,” he said, adding the institutions could respond to requests for information from law enforcement more quickly.
He said a series of measures rolled out last year in collaboration with mobile service providers had contributed to the 48 per cent fall in phone scams in the first quarter of this year. Cases in the fourth quarter of 2022 fell from 1,144 to 597 in the first three months of this year, with the total losses involved dropping from HK$355.2 million (US$45.3 million) to HK$195.1 million.
Those measures will continue. From next month, anti-fraud voice alerts or messages will be displayed for all calls with the “+852” prefix to warn residents about potential scammers.
While banks had been “very helpful” in fighting scams, such as contacting police upon receiving customers’ requests to withdraw large sums, Siu said they could “certainly” do more. He said he had brainstormed ideas with bank managers during the Friday meeting at the International Finance Centre.
Early scam detection by banks could be helpful as many victims often only made police reports after their accounts were emptied by criminals.
