Hong Kong should follow Singapore, Australia in anti-scam measures: lawmaker

Hong Kong should follow Singapore and Australia in holding major companies accountable for not doing enough to prevent frauds, a lawmaker has proposed, as he called for the creation of a mechanism which would require firms to compensate victims’ losses.

Johnny Ng Kit-chong, also a convenor of an anti-scam alliance, said on Monday establishing such a framework would help “share the responsibility” among telecommunications companies, social media platforms and financial institutions, as well as residents.

“Nowadays we don’t have any mechanisms or organisation to help the victims to get back their money,” the lawmaker said.

A poll by Hong Kong Youth Synergy, an organisation chaired by Ng, showed that 80 per cent of 488 respondents believed that fraud victims should not have to bear the financial losses of scams alone.

But the lawmaker said the city lacked a mechanism that oversaw the sharing of losses and anti-fraud measures implemented by certain industries, such as telecommunications, had “glaring loopholes”.

To help protect residents, Ng and Lam Kwok-hing, a fellow of the alliance, suggested Hong Kong follow examples set by Singapore and Australia to implement a “Fraud Loss Responsibility Framework”.