Members of the public reminded to stay alert to fraudulent phone calls purporting to be made by OFCA
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     The Office of the Communications Authority (OFCA) today (November 14) urged members of the public to continue to stay alert to fraudulent calls purporting to be made by the OFCA.

     A spokesman for the OFCA said, "The OFCA has received further reports from members of the public on their receipt of phone calls in the past two days purporting to be made by the OFCA with a pre-recorded message, both in Cantonese and Putonghua, claiming that the called party had contravened the Telecommunications Ordinance and that his/her phone service would be suspended."
      
     According to the reports, the calling number display showed a "+" sign prefixed to the calling number of the fraudulent message.
      
     "We wish to emphasise that the OFCA has never made such calls and would not make phone calls to members of the public with pre-recorded messages. Members of the public should be aware that calling numbers with a '+' sign as a prefix displayed on mobile phones indicate that the calls originate from outside Hong Kong even though the calling numbers may be masqueraded as Hong Kong phone numbers," the spokesman said.
      
     "We urge everyone to stay alert and report any suspected fraudulent calls to the Police, irrespective of whether a '+' sign is displayed as a prefix to the calling numbers. If they have any questions regarding the status of their telecommunications services, they should contact their telecommunications operators for details directly, and under no circumstances should they disclose their personal information over the phone," the spokesman added.

Ends/Monday, November 14, 2016
Issued at HKT 17:33

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