Hong Kong, mainland authorities ‘explore how to save Chinese students from scams’

Hong Kong and mainland Chinese authorities are exploring how to prevent students from across the border from falling victim to scams before they arrive in the city amid a growing number of such cases, the Post has learned.

A source also said on Sunday that the University of Hong Kong (HKU) had become the latest institution to implement a scam prevention quiz, with mainland students among those required to complete the questionnaire.

According to a campus news service, HKU requested on Thursday that select students complete the quiz or risk losing access to certain on-campus facilities.

The number of university students scammed by fraudsters posing as government officials or law enforcement personnel rose from a monthly average of 24 between July and September last year to 91 in October, according to police statistics.

HKU’s Campus TV said students in the social sciences faculty needed to complete the questionnaire sometime between January 20 and February 10.

Those who failed to answer the questions by the deadline would lose access to the campus library and learning commons area, the student-run outlet reported.