In mid-October 2023, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), in a circular to banks, pushed for the expansion of interbank information-sharing platforms to include personal accounts, the introduction of real-time fraud alerts to enhance transaction monitoring, and the improvement of fraud alerts for bank customers with local Faster Payment System (FPS).
The HKMA followed this up with the launch of the FPS suspicious proxy ID alert and the Anti-Deception Alliance in November.
And the need is urgent with Hong Kong seeing a nearly doubling of banking fraud complaints in the first nine months of 2023 with 954 complaints, compared with 555 in the whole of 2022, according to the HKMA.
Speaking to FinanceAsia, Thanh Tai Vo, director of fraud and identity of Apac, LexisNexis Risk Solutions, said: “There has been an increase in fraud and scams in Hong Kong, including social engineering fraud, using money mules to launder proceeds from criminal activities, phishing scams and malware – such as tricking users into downloading malicious apps. New online bank accounts openings are also being attacked.”
Singapore-based Vo added: “When consumers are interacting online, multiple digital data points and online digital footprints are generated, meaning the need for real-time detection is more important than ever.”
There is a now an urgent need for licensed banks, and also stored value facility operators (SVFs) incorporated in Hong Kong, to help educate the publlic and implement real-time fraud monitoring systems.
Vo explained: “There are tools which can help and the sharing of information and confirmed fraud data among banks will be extremely important moving forward as information is often fragmented.”
“For example, in summer the HKMA, the Hong Kong Association of Banks and the Hong Kong Police Force launched the Financial Intelligence Evaluation Sharing Tool, a bank-to-bank information sharing platform. This is being rolled out in phases.”
“We use tools such as LexisNexis ThreatMetrix, leveraging LexisNexis Digital Identity Network, which processes over 100 billion transactions annually to help track scammers globally,” he continued.
