Hong Kong banks expand fraud alert system to retail transactions

Customers will receive alerts for “high fraud risk” fund transfers, amongst others.

Thirty-two (32) banks and 10 stored value facility (SBV) operators in Hong Kong are extending the coverage of the city’s suspicious account alert for internet banking and physical branch transactions starting 4 August.

Beginning 4 August, retail customers will now receive alerts for “high fraud risk” fund transfers at bank counters, and online fund transfers within the same bank or inter-bank/SVFs. 

Launched in November 2023, the suspicious account alert warns customers of the “high risk” of fraud based on information from the Hong Kong Police Force’s Scameter– a scam and pitfall search engine. It initially covered fund transfers using Faster Payment System (FSP) proxy IDs.

Customers will receive an alert message indicating high fraud risk if the payee’s account number, mobile phone number, email address or FPS Identifier are labelled as “High Risk” in Scameter, regardless of whether the transfer is conducted at branch or through online channels. 

Participating SVFs will implement similar alert mechanisms and provide relevant details to their respective customers, the HKMA said.

As of end-June 2024, over 655,000 alerts have been issued, with an average of 3,000 alerts per day, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) said in a press release posted on its website.

The three have also launched two other initiatives related to bank customers’ protection: the Scameter+, a mobile application providing more timely alerts of fraudulent bank websites or phone numbers. 

Hong Kong also requires authentication of online credit card transactions to be made via banks’ mobile banking applications instead of SMS one-time passwords.