HKers urged to hang up on MPF-related cold calls

Hong Kong's Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority (MPFA) is warning citizens to immediately hang up on cold calls claiming to sell MPF products, as the authority has put in place regulations against cold calls made by intermediaries.

MPFA chairwoman Ayesha Macpherson Lau said in a Sunday blog post that all intermediaries stopped making unsolicited sales calls in February following the authority's appeal. 

“This means that intermediaries will no longer engage in cold calling to market MPF,” Lau said, adding that any such calls are likely scams.

Lau said MPFA has adopted a multi-layered approach to combat fraudulent cold calls targeting retirement savings, including industry circulars requesting regular reviews, improving anti-scam measures and regulation on cold calls.

A new circular will be issued on Monday to request intermediary agencies to ban their staff from selling MPF through cold calls, Lau said, adding that non-compliance intermediaries face severe penalties, including permanent deregistration.

Lau called on the public to hang up immediately when receiving cold calls of unknown origin claiming to be intermediaries selling MPF.

While cold calls are prohibited, Lau noted legitimate intermediaries may still contact members about account services like openings or transfers. 

She advised recipients to verify callers' identities with the relevant companies before sharing any information.

Meanwhile, the authority is also working with police, financial regulators and tech firms to track scams and remove fraudulent social media posts.

All MPF trustees and 24 intermediary agencies have joined the Anti-Scam Consumer Protection Charter 2.0, pledging not to request personal data via unsolicited hyperlinks in instant messages.

Additionally, all MPF trustees and 15 major intermediary firms that communicate with scheme members via SMS have enrolled in the government’s SMS Sender Registration Scheme, using sender names prefixed with a “#” symbol to help members identify senders.

(Ayra Wang)