IFEC launches campaign to educate public on online financial scams

People are getting used to spending more time online amid the pandemic to conduct many e-commerce and online activities. To help the public protect themselves, the Investor and Financial Education Council (IFEC) has rolled out a campaign.

Aimed at promoting digital financial literacy and highlighting the risks when using online services, the IFEC launched an awareness campaign "Don't Fall Prey to Online Financial Scams" on 10 March, featuring actor Joey Law in a 30-second TVC sharing some common scam tactics. 

In one example, the ad features social media stock trading scams where fraudsters operate “ramp and dump” schemes by pretending to be stock experts to offer exclusive inside information regarding manipulated stocks. It also includes phishing scams by impersonating banks or other reputable organisations via emails or using bogus links to gain access to accounts and transfer money out, or to hack into trading accounts or to obtain trading authorisations.

Another common issue is the sweet-talking tactic on social media. Swindlers use a fake identity or pretend to be experts to offer advice on social media platforms such as WeChat to entice victims to provide online investment authorisation.

In addition to the campaign, the IFEC has also designed an anti-scam online quiz for people to test their level of awareness and knowledge of online scams. Featuring Chin Junior from the iconic Chin Family as a detective, the multiple-choice question quiz presents eight common scenarios associated with online scams. After completing the quiz participants can assess how they fare, uncover their psychological weaknesses, and gain tips on areas for improvement.

The campaign has been launched concurrently with Hong Kong Money Month in March. Hong Kong Money Month is an annual territory-wide campaign focusing on promoting good financial planning.

Hong Kong Money Month includes a wide variety of initiatives, such as Facebook Live talks to uncover tactics of ramp and dump scams on social media; the Global Money Week Portal which provides money resources for schoolchildren and young adults, and an online money management toolkit for working adults to help deal with financial challenges during the pandemic.

Lastly, the IFEC has also announced its latest Digital Financial Services Usage Study, revealing that there has been an accelerating uptake of digital financial services in Hong Kong. The study has shown that 75% of the surveyed respondents had used digital financial services in the past year, with the top three areas being online banking (70%), online payments (57%) and online investing (43%). About half claimed they had used digital financial services more often in 2020 than the previous year, particularly for making online payments.

Amid the digital and social media surge, close to half (47%) of the surveyed respondents reported that they had experienced online scams before, and one in eleven (9%) had consequently suffered financial losses, resulting in an average loss of over HK$17,000. Common online scams encountered by the respondents included receiving phishing emails or bogus calls to acquire bank account details (26%), online shopping frauds (12%) and fraudulent emails requesting money transfers (10%).

“Online scams and cyber-security threats have become pressing and serious issues with digital advancement and increasing popularity in social media usage. We hope to raise public awareness about online scams, and hopefully induce attitudinal and behavioural change, to help people better protect themselves against these scams and threats," said Dora Li, general manager of the IFEC.