Hong Kong ATMs to have pop-up warnings as scam losses mount to HK$6.41 billion: police chief

Bank users will get pop-up warnings on their ATMs by the end of March when suspected fraudulent transactions occur as Hong Kong doubles down against scams with mounting losses reaching HK$6.41 billion in the first three quarters this year, the police chief has revealed.

In an exclusive interview with the Post this week, Commissioner of Police Raymond Siu Chak-yee also warned that fraud deploying deepfake technology was likely to be the next major form of swindling to plague the city, even as the overall rise in the number of reported scams had slowed.

To ramp up prevention measures, Siu said, warning messages on suspected fraudulent transactions shown on the city’s Faster Payment System (FPS) would be extended to ATMs by the end of the first quarter next year.

“If a victim is paying a scammer via an ATM, [the machine] will also pop up an alert, so that will be 100 per cent coverage,” he said.

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Anti-scam measures ramped up as deepfake cases set to rise: police chief

Anti-scam measures ramped up as deepfake cases set to rise: police chief

Since November, FPS users have received a warning when they enter details of recipient accounts flagged by the police force’s Scameter database as “high risk” for having a history of involvement in fraud. About 715,000 alerts have been sent as of the end of last month.