Police send out SMS warnings to potential scam victims

Police's Anti-Deception Coordination Centre will start contacting potential scam victims through SMS message alerts and providing suggestions to them from today.

The coordination center is already registered under the short message service sender registration scheme with the Office of the Communications Authority.

The center will send a text message under its registered SMS sender ID, "#ADCC1822".

Police said the SMS aims to alert citizens and suggest ways to verify against potential scams, and also inform people how to seek assistance.

"The ADCC [coordination center] seizes this opportunity to remind members of the public that phishing or malicious messages often contain hyperlinks, QR codes, or attachments that install malicious software on victims' devices to access sensitive information. Members of the public are urged to be cautious," police said.

"Police reiterate that officers and bank personnel will never, under any circumstances, request the disclosure of personal information or banking credentials, nor ask for the transfer of funds to any accounts during these interactions," police added.

The coordination center has been working with 12 retail banks since May last year under the name "Upstream Scam Intervention" launched by the center, to improve the efficacy of preventing deception and reducing losses incurred by scam victims, given the evolving landscape of deception and the imperative need for proactive countermeasures.

Police said it identifies potential scam victims by analyzing suspicious bank accounts.

Apart from contacting potential victims through phone calls or police visits, the center from today will also send SMS alerts to provide timely alerts to people who may be at risk of falling victim to scams.

Potential victims will be provided with the necessary information, such as details of the implicated bank accounts that they have transacted with, to facilitate their verification and assessment.

Police said by the end of last November, it had stopped 579 deception cases under the scheme.

Police also reminded members of the public that to verify callers' identities, they can contact their respective banks or the coordination center directly via designated contact numbers.

Citizens are also encouraged to utilize Scameter on the CyberDefender website (https://cyberdefender.hk/en-us/scameter/) or the mobile application Scameter+ to check if the recipient bank accounts are associated with any reported scams to verify whether their transaction counterparts are suspicious or high-risk.