Beware of Telephone Deception!!

Dear students,

Telephone fraudulence is seen risen in recent years. To stay alert against deception, you are strongly recommended to browse the website of Anti-Deception Coordination Centre (www.adcc.gov.hk/en-hk/home.html) and poster (click here) regularly for the latest modus operandi of deception and scam alerts and to remind your classmates and friends.

There are a wide variety of defrauding tricks. During the calls, Putonghua or Cantonese-speaking fraudsters are able to tell the names of the victims, impersonating law enforcement officers (who claimed to be assisting Mainland law enforcement officers in a case investigation), or staff of government organisations. Victims would be asked to provide sensitive information such as account numbers and PIN codes of personal banking or e-payment platform, or request victims to meet at specific locations.

We hereby alert you to be watchful on suspected telephone frauds.

• To help detect telephone deception, the Office of the Communications Authority stipulates that telephone operators are required to insert a “+” sign in the calling number display of mobile phones as a prefix for all incoming calls originating from outside Hong Kong.  If you receive unknown calls with the prefix “+852” which appears to be from a local number, you should be alert to the possible telephone deception;
• The Police and other government organisations would not make calls to the public using numbers with a “+852” prefix;
• Some scammers call victims using SIM cards with One-Card-Two-Numbers services (the prefix “+852” will not be displayed) to defraud.  You should stay alert to all incoming calls;
• The HKPF will not forward your call to any law enforcement officers of other jurisdictions;
• If the callers claim themselves as officers of law enforcement agencies or government organisations or e-payment companies and request for your personal particulars and assets under various pretexts, contact corresponding offices to verify the identity of the callers;
• Do not disclose your personal particulars to strangers, including your HKID numbers, bank account numbers, online banking accounts and PIN codes;
• Do not download any unknown applications, or click on any links or open any attachments embedded in suspicious emails, or input any information into unknown applications or websites.

Please call the Police’s “Anti-Scam Helpline 18222” if in doubt or report any suspected case to the Police Force at Ma On Shan Station on 3661 1700. For any emergency, please call 999.

Learning and Cultural Enhancement Section
Office of Student Affairs