Following is a question by the Hon Chong Ho-fung and a reply by the Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, Mr Algernon Yau, in the Legislative Council today (June 24):
 
Question:
 
     There are views pointing out that telecommunications and online fraud cases have been rampant in Hong Kong in recent years, with fraudulent SMS messages and bogus advertisements on social media platforms proliferating over a long period of time, and the modus operandi of fraudsters are ever-changing, many members of the public have suffered substantial financial losses as a result, and often faced costly and complicated civil proceedings when pursuing the relevant compensation, making it difficult for them to be successful in their claims. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
 
(1) whether it will study the formulation of a unified and streamlined civil asset recovery procedure for telecommunications and online fraud cases, so as to reduce the costs for victims in pursuing compensation;
 
(2) whether it will, by drawing on the experience of other jurisdictions, enact legislation to stipulate the legal obligations of telecommunications operators and social media platforms in telecommunications and online fraud cases (such as screening suspicious SMS messages and suspending the services of users involved in fraud), as well as the compensation liabilities to be borne; and
 
(3) whether it will make it mandatory for local telecommunications operators to use artificial intelligence and big data technologies to instantly intercept fraudulent bulk SMS messages and suspicious calls at the network source, and stipulate that victims of the relevant fraud cases may claim losses from telecommunications operators that have not complied with these requirements?
 
Reply:
 
President,
 
     Given the prevalence of telecommunications services and online communications (including social media and instant messaging applications), it has become a global trend where fraudsters conduct fraudulent activities through telephone and online communications. Given Hong Kong's status as a regional communications hub, the Government attaches great importance to the integrity and effectiveness of Hong Kong's telecommunications system. Drawing on the experience of other jurisdictions and taking into account the local circumstances in Hong Kong, the Government adopts a multipronged approach to combat fraudulent activities through interdepartmental efforts. According to the figures provided by the Hong Kong Police Force (Police), although around 43 000 fraud cases were recorded in 2025, this represents a slight decrease of about 3 per cent as compared to the number of 2024. This marked the first decline since the number of fraud cases had been rising year on year since 2019, whilst the financial losses fell from approximately $9.2 billion to approximately $8.1 billion, a decrease of about 11 per cent, demonstrating the effectiveness of the anti-fraud efforts made by various government departments. Regarding the regulation of telecommunications service providers (TSPs), the Communications Authority (CA) is empowered under the Telecommunications Ordinance (Cap. 106) (TO) to regulate TSPs. In addition to the regulatory requirements stipulated under the TO, the CA also reviews and updates the licence conditions and codes of practice from time to time in light of market developments and the latest fraud trends provided by the Police, ensuring that the regulatory regime of TSPs can keep pace with the times. TSPs are required to comply with the relevant statutory requirements, licence conditions, and codes of practice. The CA may impose penalties pursuant to the TO in the event of any breach of licence conditions by TSPs.
 
     In response to the question raised by the Hon Chong Ho-fung, and in consultation with the Security Bureau, the Police, the Office of the Communications Authority (OFCA) and the Judiciary, the consolidated reply is as follows:
 
     Firstly, regarding blocking suspicious calls and websites at source, the CA pursuant to the TO added provisions to the licences of TSPs in 2022 to clearly require that TSPs must promptly block or suspend telephone services and websites suspected of being involved in fraudulent activities in accordance with requests from law enforcement agencies. In this regard, the Police and TSPs have also established a mechanism, and as of end-May this year, TSPs have blocked or suspended more than 110 000 websites and more than 14 000 phone numbers based on information provided by the Police.
 
     Secondly, regarding the detection of suspicious calling or SMS-sending patterns, the CA promulgated a code of practice in April 2023 to require TSPs to monitor calls and SMS messages originated from their networks and systems. Once a TSP has detected that the telephone number has made a large number of calls or sent a large number of SMS messages within a short period of time, the TSP must suspend the services of the relevant local telephone number. Currently, TSPs are deploying various technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and big data for monitoring. As of end-May this year, the services of around 1.59 million local telephone numbers have been suspended accordingly.
 
     Thirdly, to minimise the losses incurred by victims, the Police, together with the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and the banking industry, have launched a number of joint anti-fraud measures, including the "Upstream Scam Intervention" scheme in May 2023 to proactively identify targeted scam victims and persuade them to stop transferring money to scammers. From the implementation of the scheme to March 2026, the Police successfully prevented 7 987 fraud cases, averting losses of over $780 million. The Police also launched new features for Scameter+ in October 2025, including automatic user database updates and expanded reporting categories covering SMS and instant messaging applications. New AI technology was also introduced to analyse suspicious website links and webpage screenshots reported by the public to detect the impersonation of banks, couriers, investment platforms, etc. Once confirmed as malicious, these websites are instantly added to the database of Scameter+ to block access for all users.
 
     Regarding civil proceedings to recover the loss (including those arising from telephone and online scams), depending on the amount involved, citizens may bring the case before the Small Claims Tribunal (SCT), the District Court or the Court of First Instance of the High Court. The SCT adopts a generally less formal approach to proceedings, providing a relatively quick and inexpensive avenue for litigants-in-person (without legal representatives) to resolve civil disputes involving lower claim amounts. The Judiciary has always been proactive in expediting court proceedings and most civil proceedings at various court level have been meeting the respective target of waiting time over the past few years. The arrangement of requiring commercial entities (such as TSPs and banks), in their capacity as service providers, to compensate fraud victims (i.e. shared liability compensation) is not common in other jurisdictions. Such arrangement involves various complex issues, including how to determine liability for losses arising from the fraud, whether it would reduce public vigilance against fraud, and whether it would hinder normal business operations. The compensation process may also be lengthy, and the eligibility criteria for compensation are not straightforward. For example, compensation claims must undergo thorough investigation, and if a TSP can demonstrate that it has fulfilled its customer due diligence obligations, it would not be required to compensate the fraud victim. Moreover, there are currently no concrete figures demonstrating the effectiveness of such shared liability compensation arrangement. In fact, as reflected in the statistics I have just shared, we consider that the concerted efforts of various government departments and TSPs, to combat fraud through the collaboration among the Government, business sector and the public have been effective to a certain extent. The Government will continue to closely monitor fraud trends and tactics, draw on experience of other jurisdictions, and strengthen measures to combat telephone and online scams, with a view to safeguarding public interests.

Ends/Wednesday, June 24, 2026
Issued at HKT 12:58

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