Anti-Deception Coordination Centre to Enhance Scam Intervention through SMS Communications

The Anti-Deception Coordination Centre (ADCC) of the Hong Kong Police Force, in collaboration with 12 retail banks, launched the scheme of “Upstream Scam Intervention” in May 2023 to enhance the efficacy of preventing deception and mitigating losses incurred by scam victims.  Starting from January 2, 2024, in addition to contacting potential scam victims via phone calls or police visits, the ADCC has expanded its prevention efforts to include sending SMS messages to these potential victims as a means to provide timely alerts and advice.

The ADCC has registered with the Office of the Communications Authority’s “Short Message Service (SMS) Sender Registration Scheme”, and its “Registered SMS Sender ID” is “#ADCC18222”. The SMS messages aim to send alerts and provide ways for verification and seeking assistance.  Members of the public are encouraged to utilise Scameter on the CyberDefender website (https://cyberdefender.hk/en-us/scameter/) or the mobile application Scameter+ to check if the recipient bank accounts are associated with any reported scams in order to verify whether their transaction counterparts are suspicious or high-risk.

The ADCC reminds members of the public that all SMS messages sent by the ADCC will not contain any hyperlinks. On the contrary, phishing or malicious messages often contain hyperlinks, QR codes or attachments for installing malicious software on victims’ devices to access sensitive information. Members of the public are urged to be cautious.

Furthermore, under no circumstances will police officers or bank personnel request individuals to disclose personal information or banking credentials, let alone ask individuals to transfer funds to any account. Should there be any doubts regarding the caller’s identity, the public can inquire with the ADCC via the Anti-Deception Helpline 18222, or proactively validate the caller’s credentials with the concerned intuitions.