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Connor Mycroft

Hong Kong should follow Singapore and Australia in holding major companies accountable for not doing enough to prevent fraud, a lawmaker has said, as he called for the creation of a mechanism to require firms to compensate victims for their losses.
Johnny Ng Kit-chong, also a convenor of an anti-scam alliance, said on Monday establishing such a framework would help “share the responsibility” among telecommunications companies, social media platforms and financial institutions, as well as residents.
But another lawmaker doubted certain sectors would agree to a proposal that would penalise industry players.
A poll by Hong Kong Youth Synergy, an organisation chaired by Ng, showed that 80 per cent of 488 respondents believed that fraud victims should not have to bear the financial losses of scams alone.
Ng said the city lacked a mechanism that oversaw the sharing of losses.
He also said anti-fraud measures implemented by certain industries, such as telecommunications, had “glaring loopholes”.
“Nowadays we don’t have any mechanisms or organisation to help the victims to get back their money,” lawmaker Ng said.
To help protect residents, Ng and Lam Kwok-hing, a fellow of the alliance, suggested following examples set by Singapore and Australia to introduce a “Fraud Loss Responsibility Framework”.
In December, Singapore implemented a “Shared Responsibility Framework”, which requires financial institutions and telecommunications companies to be more active in mitigating phishing scams.
The framework also mandates who should bear the losses in the event someone falls victim to a scam, according to the country’s monetary authority.
The Australian government introduced a similar prevention framework bill in November, which if enacted would include fines of up to A$50 million (US$31 million) for non-compliance.
For Hong Kong, Ng proposed that compensation be divided based on each party’s level of “negligence” in a case. This would require banks, telecommunication companies, digital platforms, and even the victims themselves to bear a certain portion of the responsibility, he said.
To ensure the mechanism ran smoothly, an independent “Comprehensive Fraud Mediation and Arbitration Committee” should be formed to handle disputes, Ng said.
He noted establishing such a mechanism would require a “joint effort” by the government, industry players and consumers.
But fellow lawmaker Ronick Chan Chun-ying said some companies, such as financial institutions, might not agree that they should be penalised for scam cases.
Chan, who represents the financial sector, said it would be difficult to determine the percentage of responsibility to be borne between the various industries and the victim.
He also questioned whether industry players would be convinced about the fairness of judgments under an arbitration mechanism.
“Actually, the finance industry has all along allocated a lot of resources to the prevention of deception,” he said.
Hong Kong has experienced a surge in fraud and scam cases in recent years.

On Sunday, the Post learned that mainland and Hong Kong authorities were exploring how to prevent students from across the border from falling victim to scams before they arrived in the city amid a growing number of such cases.
Hong Kong police handled more than 40,400 deception cases in the first eleven months of 2024, with losses totalling HK$8.52 billion (US$1 billion).
In 2023, the force handled about 39,800 cases, while in 2022 they dealt with 27,900.
In the first half of 2024, the Hong Kong Computer Emergency Response Team Coordination Centre also handled more than 3,369 phishing scam cases, a 67 per cent rise compared with the 2,018 in the second half of 2023.
Ng urged telecommunications companies to implement anti-fraud filters that could detect and block messages containing malicious URLs in real time, while also improving their identity verification procedures.
Banks should freeze transactions and alert customers immediately when large withdrawals were made, he added, pointing to a similar policy in Singapore which was introduced earlier this month.
Ng also called for social media platforms to implement “rigorous” identification verification for business accounts and advertisers to prevent scammers from reaching victims through promotional campaigns.


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Crime in Hong Kong

Hong Kong should follow Singapore, Australia in anti-scam measures: lawmaker

Lawmaker Johnny Ng holds a press conference to propose a mechanism in which firms would share the load of Hong Kong residents’ losses to scams. Photo: Jelly Tse

Lawyer Wilfred Lam (left) and lawmaker Johnny Ng have suggested Hong Kong follow Singapore and Australia in developing a “Fraud Loss Responsibility Framework”. Photo: Jelly Tse

Scam action urged as university students in Hong Kong lose HK$75 million

The University of Hong Kong said that more than 60 students had fallen prey to scams in recent months. Photo: Yik Yeung-man

City University has said 30 students fell victim to scams recently. Photo: May Tse

Hong Kong, mainland authorities ‘explore how to save Chinese students from scams’

Hong Kong has witnessed an increase in mainland students falling victim to scams. Photo: Dickson Lee

News

Hong Kong

Law and Crime

Legislator proposes creation of a mechanism that would require companies, banks and individuals to share the cost of victims’ losses


Legislator proposes creation of a mechanism that would require companies, banks and individuals to share the cost of victims’ losses.


Cybersecurity

Singapore