More cases of scammers posing as public officials

Only government and public institutions should be allowed to use phone numbers starting with "1" to prevent scammers from pretending to be government officials, Technology and Innovation sector lawmaker Duncan Chiu says.

In a radio program yesterday, he said more scammers are pretending to be government officials during phone calls, accounting for two-thirds of all scams, or 679 cases, that occurred in the first nine months of the year, with losses of HK$500 million.

Chiu added that the increasing number of phone scams is a global phenomenon, with different kinds of fraud spreading across social media platforms, and "cross-border telecom scam is the most significant problem."

He said the phone scams usually cause huge losses to victims though the number of phone scams has not increased.

Chiu said the phone numbers of all government departments and institutions should start with "1" to put an end to scammers posing as officials.

He proposed a report mechanism between authorities and service providers to block suspicious phone numbers.

Chiu said Hongkongers could refuse to pick up unidentified phone calls, but the report mechanism could "solve the problem at its root."

"When telecom service providers received several reports from the citizens that a phone number may belong to scammers, they could deregister the phone number," Chiu said.

But he also said an appeal mechanism is necessary for the innocent to appeal.

Chiu's comments came as the Legislative Council on Wednesday discussed a motion, raised by lawmaker Johnny Ng Kit-chong, to combat cyber fraud raised by lawmaker Johnny Ng Kit-chong.

Ng proposed that the administration should strengthen cooperation between the finance, telecom and technology sectors through high-tech methods, and build a cross-sector mechanism to prevent scams.

Undersecretary for Commerce and Economic Development Bernard Chan Pak-li said the authorities will consider Chiu's suggestion.

But Chan said the possible change of phone numbers may affect related departments, public institutions and residents.

"Government departments and public institutions have to make a large-scale movement to their current telephone systems, as well as change the hotlines and official numbers they have been using," he said.

Chan added that they will carefully evaluate the challenges that come with it.

Secretary for Security Chris Tang Ping-keung said a total of 4,729 suspects have been arrested in the first 10 months for deception, a 50 percent increase from last year.

He added that about 400,000 local phone numbers were blocked and telecom service providers have refused or canceled the registration of more than 1.3 million phone cards as of the end of last month.

ayra.wang@singtaonewscorp.com