Lawmakers warn SIM card limits won’t stem tide of phone scams in Hong Kong

A law amendment proposal to reduce the number of prepaid SIM cards per user from 10 to three does not go far enough to deter rampant phone scams, according to Hong Kong lawmakers, who called for a tougher approach to handling the issue.

Hong Kong authorities have proposed reducing the maximum number of prepaid SIM cards a user can register with one of the 29 telecommunications service providers in the city from 10 to just three, according to a paper submitted to the Legislative Council.

Based on a quota of three per person, each user can register up to 87 SIM cards.

“The effect [of the proposal] might be discounted,” lawmaker Ronick Chan Chun-ying said.

He proposed further capping the maximum number of prepaid SIM cards per user.

Fellow lawmaker Peter Shiu Ka-fai considered 87 a “sizeable” number and recommended a limit of four telecoms service providers for users, translating to 12 prepaid SIM cards.

Lawmaker Doreen Kong Yuk-foon agreed with Shiu’s suggestion and cited other jurisdictions having limits of eight, 10 and 12, while noting that Hongkongers should not be paying the price of scams for a free industry.