LCQ17: Combating online investment scams
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Question:
According to the data provided by the Government in its reply to a question raised by a Member of this Council in June this year, the Police recorded a total of 1 534 cases of online investment scams involving an amount of about $1.02 billion in the first four months of this year. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) given that the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has launched anti-scam publicity and education programmes targeting three common investment scam scenarios, whether the Government has formulated specific measures to support SFC's anti-scam publicity programmes, so as to raise public vigilance against investment scams; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
(2) whether it has plans to strengthen its co-operation with the SFC to update and enhance investor education, so as to ensure that investors can effectively identify and guard against emerging investment risks as well as evolving fraudulent practices and technologies; and
(3) whether it has devised further strategies or allocated additional resources to extend the impact of the "Don't be Sucker" anti-scam publicity campaign launched by the SFC, so as to enable more investors to benefit from the campaign and avoid becoming victims of online investment scams; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
The Government attaches great importance to investor education, and is committed to supporting the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) and its subsidiary, the Investor and Financial Education Council (IFEC), in enhancing the financial literacy of the public through various means and channels. In consultation with the Security Bureau, the SFC and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), my reply to the various parts of the question is as follows.
(1) and (2) In the first five months of 2025, there were 1 849 cases of online investment scams recorded by the Police, involving about $1.24 billion. The Government accords high priority to investor protection, and strives to combat online investment scams through two main directions, namely promotion and enforcement.
On promotion, the Government, together with the SFC and the IFEC, has been striving to enhance investors' anti-financial scam capabilities, raise the public's knowledge in relevant financial products, and remind investors of the risks associated with digital finance.
In March 2025, the IFEC in collaboration with various stakeholders organised the "Hong Kong Money Month" with the theme of "Guard against Fraud Thrive with Resilience" to comprehensively promote anti-scam messages by publicising anti-scam information targeting different segments of the community through cross-media promotion. The promotion videos recorded a total of 20.6 million views during the promotion period. In the face of ever-changing technology and evolving fraud tactics, the IFEC has also introduced various anti-financial scam education resources, animated videos, online seminars, etc to educate the public on safeguarding against investment scams including "ramp and dump" schemes, social media investment groups, fraudulent trading apps or investment platforms, impersonation scams, deepfake technology and phishing messages, etc. The IFEC website also features fraud prevention online games and an anti-scam online quiz, enabling the public to gain anti-scam knowledge through engaging and interactive games.
The IFEC launched Hong Kong's first digital financial education experiential learning centre, the IFEC FinEd Hub, in March 2024 to offer investment and anti-scam education to a wider audience through immersive and interactive learning experiences. The FinEd Hub features various interactive anti-scam games for visitors to learn how to identify and respond to various financial scams. As of end-June 2025, the FinEd Hub has recorded over 26 500 visits, with the vast majority of visitors indicating that their visit had enhanced their anti-scam knowledge.
On the other hand, the HKMA has introduced "Money Safe" with banks to provide an extra layer of security to customers' bank deposits. "Money Safe" enables customers to segregate a portion of their deposits maintained at banks, protecting them from fund outflows through online and other channels. When releasing the protected deposits, customers would need to undertake extra verification process by staff at bank branches. All retail banks will fully implement "Money Safe" by the end of this year.
As regards enforcement actions against online investment scams, given that most fraud cases in Hong Kong currently involve the use of stooge accounts for receiving funds, targeting such accounts is an effective way to disrupt the fraud value chain. In the first five months of 2025, the Police arrested a total of 3 028 persons in connection with various fraud and money laundering offences, about 70 per cent of whom were holders of stooge accounts. Since the end of 2023, the Police have also applied to the courts to invoke section 27 of the Organized and Serious Crimes Ordinance (Cap. 455) to seek enhanced penalties for cases involving stooge accounts, so as to strengthen deterrence. There have been cases where convicted stooge account holders received sentences increased by more than 30 per cent.
The Hong Kong Police Force, together with the police authorities of the Macao Special Administrative Region, Malaysia, Maldives, Singapore, South Korea, and Thailand, has also conducted the first joint operation under the anti-fraud cross-boundary co-operation platform "FRONTIER+" to jointly combat cross-boundary fraud criminal activity. The operation successfully identified and dismantled multiple cross-boundary fraud syndicates, resulting in the arrest of 1 858 persons and involving 9 268 fraud cases, including investment fraud. In addition, noting the increase in online investment scams at the beginning of 2025, the Hong Kong Police have, over the past few months, held press conferences from time to time and stepped up publicity through various channels to remind the public to remain vigilant.
(3) The SFC launched a new anti-scam campaign "Don't be Sucker" in December 2024 to caution the public against common tactics used in fraudulent schemes. An original cartoon character "Shui Yu", symbolising an impulsive and gullible personality that easily fall prey to investment scams, debuted in the campaign.
Complementing the SFC's focused promotion of three common scams that the public should avoid (namely online romance scams, impersonation, and deceptive tips from financial influencers), the SFC has rolled out an original campaign theme song and a music video featuring "Shui Yu", which has recorded over one million views within about three months since its launch. As of end-June 2025, the SFC has published about 50 posts on the social media platform of "Shui Yu", which has attracted more than 1 500 followers and over 423 000 views by unique users.
To further promote anti-scam messages through "Shui Yu", the SFC has produced "Shui Yu"-themed messaging app stickers to spread anti-scam messages in a light-hearted way. Apart from various online and offline advertisements, the SFC extended the "Don't be Sucker" anti-scam publicity campaign through MTR station commercials and a TV infotainment programme in May to June 2025, garnering more than 1.6 million views in estimate.
In fact, the Government has been proactively enhancing public awareness of various kinds of scams. The Police have set up the Anti-Deception Coordination Centre since July 2017 to consolidate the efforts of the Police in combating and preventing scams, and have introduced various initiatives including the 24-hour enquiry hotline "Anti-Scam Helpline 18222", and the "Upstream Scam Intervention" scheme to actively identify potential scam victims.
In addition, the Police have introduced an anti-scam mascot "The Little Grape" since June 2020 to explain the latest tactics of scammers and disseminate simple anti-scam messages in a friendly and interactive manner. Various "The Little Grape" anti-scam promotional campaigns have also been organised over the past five years. Thanks to these initiatives and the collective efforts of the community, the annual growth rate of scam cases has significantly decelerated from nearly 90 per cent in 2020 to 11.7 per cent last year, indicating a rise in public awareness of scam prevention.
Going forward, the Government will continue to support relevant organisations and stakeholders in collaboratively launching targeted promotion activities to raise the anti-scam awareness of the public.
Ends/Wednesday, July 9, 2025
Issued at HKT 14:30
Issued at HKT 14:30
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