Alerts over '+852' calls to fight fraud

Eunice Lam

Mobile phone users will be warned of suspected telephone scams from overseas when the calling number displays "+852" starting from May 1, the Office of the Communications Authority announced yesterday.

The telecoms watchdog is working with the police, telecom operators, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and banks to launch a registration scheme for SMS senders, with a pilot run in the bank sector to be rolled out by year-end.

Mobile network operators will remind mobile users by sending them a voice alert or text alert for incoming calls with the caller number prefixed with "+852," so they are aware that the calls are from outside Hong Kong, and guard against the use of telecommunications for illicit purposes.

The authority's director-general Chaucer Leung Chung-yin said the four major mobile networks - China Mobile Hong Kong, Hong Kong Telecommunications, Hutchison Telephone Company, and SmarTone Mobile Communications - have already adopted the alert mechanism this month.

A standard anti-fraud alert message - "Call is from outside Hong Kong. Beware of deception" - would be sent to mobile users upon receiving an incoming call with the "+852."

A 10-second voice alert - spoken in Cantonese, Putonghua and English - will play when one picks up the call, while the text alert, written in English and Chinese, will show on the screen when the phone rings.

The alert service is provided free of charge by mobile service providers. Mobile service users need not pre-register, install mobile apps or make changes to their phone settings.

"An incoming call with the '+852' dialing code does not mean it is a fraud call. So we decided to launch an alert service than completely banning these calls," Leung said.

"In case your friends call you from overseas, it will still display their phone numbers with the '+852' prefix."

The authority has been working with telecom service providers to block overseas numbers that mimic Hong Kong fixed lines, Leung explained.

By mid-year, operators will be able to suspend the services of suspicious numbers making frequent cold calls or related to scams.

Leung said that they plan to roll out a registration scheme for SMS senders to step up the fight against fraud.

"For our SMS registration scheme, we require all legitimate companies to register their sender address. For example, if this is an ABC company, it can register as ABC. Then all other entities cannot use ABC to send SMS to other people," he said.

"OFCA is working with police, telecom operators, banks, and Hong Kong Monetary Authority to establish a registration scheme for SMS senders ... we are working out the technical arrangements and implementation details for a pilot run before the end of this year."

The group was established last September to combat increasing scam calls and messages through blocking, identification and promoting public awareness.

eunice.lam@singtaonewscorp.com