Hong Kong, mainland Chinese authorities ‘explore how to save students from scams’
Mainland Chinese students in Hong Kong have found themselves increasingly targeted by scams in recent years.
Hong Kong has witnessed an increase in mainland students falling victim to scams. (Photo: South China Morning Post/Dickson Lee)
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Hong Kong and mainland Chinese authorities are exploring how to prevent students from across the border from falling victim to scams before they arrive in the city amid a growing number of such cases, the Post has learned.
A source also said on Sunday (Jan 19) that the University of Hong Kong (HKU) had become the latest institution to implement a scam prevention quiz, with mainland students among those required to complete the questionnaire.
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) said students had to undergo online anti-deception training and a test as a prerequisite for admission since July last year.
According to a campus news service, HKU requested on Thursday that select students complete the quiz or risk losing access to certain on-campus facilities.
The number of university students scammed by fraudsters posing as government officials or law enforcement personnel rose from a monthly average of 24 between July and September last year to 91 in October, according to police statistics.
HKU’s Campus TV said students in the social sciences faculty needed to complete the questionnaire sometime between Jan 20 and Feb 10.
Those who failed to answer the questions by the deadline would lose access to the campus library and learning commons area, the student-run outlet reported.
According to the source, PolyU first approached police more than a year ago for help designing a set of questions on common scam techniques amid a surge in fraud victims on campus.
Mainland Chinese students at the university were required to take the quiz, the source said.
Police later decided to share the questionnaire with other universities after seeing a drop in scam victims linked to PolyU.
The source said HKU was the latest university to introduce the questionnaire.
The questions cover common tactics used by fraudsters, such as telephone, investment and shopping scams.
They also touch on ways that students can verify whether they are being targeted by scammers.
The insider said Hong Kong and mainland Chinese authorities were discussing measures to enhance students’ awareness of various fraud risks before they came to the city to pursue their studies.
In a reply to the Post, police said that their Anti-Deception Coordination Centre had introduced an online fraud prevention learning kit for local universities since September 2023.
The purpose of the learning kit was “to disseminate anti-fraud messages so that students, especially those newly arrived from the mainland, can personally understand the relevant information, which is different from the general one-way anti-fraud publicity”, the force said.
Police said more than 4,000 students had completed the learning package as of January, and the force was “actively discussing” with universities how to use the learning package more effectively.
Lawmaker Johnny Ng Kit-chong said Chinese students had become “prime targets” for scammers due to “multiple vulnerabilities”, including their limited familiarity with local laws, potential language barriers and uncertainty about their new environment.
Ng said that by limiting access to certain campus facilities until students had completed the training, the universities would ensure more students completed the testing. Voluntary programmes often had low participation rates, he said.
“These measures aren’t meant to treat students with suspicion, but rather to provide concrete protection against scams, demonstrating active collaboration between universities and law enforcement,” he said.
Lawmaker and former security minister Lai Tung-kwok agreed HKU’s new measure was a useful tool to help provide reminders to mainland students.
He said the measures were “proportional” given the “serious consequences” and what were likely to be heavy financial losses to students’ families.
A PolyU spokesman said the university had been collaborating with police to implement various measures and organise activities to enhance students’ awareness of the risks posed by scams.
“Since July last year, the university has mandated that all new students complete an online anti-deception training kit and test, primarily designed by police, as a prerequisite for admission,” the spokesman said.
PolyU said it had also held seminars to share anti-deception information and set up 15 WeChat groups in collaboration with police to keep students informed about the latest updates on fraud-related matters.
HKU said it had distributed fraud prevention kits to help students identify potential scams and avoid financial losses.
The material included information on four common types of fraud, as well as videos and the multiple-choice questionnaire. The university said the move would help students, especially those “new to Hong Kong and from the mainland” to “understand the relevant information in person”.
“It is hoped that they can complete the task as soon as possible to enhance their anti-fraud awareness,” the university said.
Mainland Chinese students in Hong Kong have found themselves increasingly targeted by scams in recent years.
On Friday, the Post learned that an 18-year-old mainland student at HKU was cheated out of HK$9.2 million (US$1.2 million) after receiving a call from a fraudster claiming she was involved in a money-laundering case across the border.
In November, Hong Kong police issued a warning over a rising trend of scams in which fraudsters impersonate officials and target mainlanders after a case in which criminals tried to stage the kidnapping of an 18-year-old to extort HK$6 million from his father.
This article was first published on SCMP.
