Start main content

Telephone Deception

Recently, two students were able to expose telephone deception when they received phone calls claiming to be staff of telecommunication companies. By staying calm, they were able to identify some clues which made them suspicious.

wechat conversation 1 wechat conversation 2

If you don’t want to fall into the trap, you need to know how the telephone deception works. Please take note of the common scenario of telephone deception:

1. Many of those phone calls start with the country code +852
2. The speaker in the phone claims to be the staff of courier companies, telecommunication companies or government officials, such as the Immigration Department of Hong Kong, Mainland Police or other law enforcement officials
3. In many cases, the calls will be diverted to “supervisors or other departments”, such as Mainland Police, etc.
4. A bogus arrest warrants with your photos will be shown to convince you.
5. A request to provide information of bank account, such as account number and password of internet banking account would be made.
6. The speaker may also request you to remit money to designated bank accounts as security deposit or investigation fee
When you receive a phone call from somebody who claims that you are related to a crime, it is normal for you to feel nervous and hastily follow their instructions.

To protect yourself against telephone deception, you can:

1. Hang up the line first. (The two students in the examples also hung up the line!)
2. Call 18222 immediately to contact the Anti-Deception Coordination Centre (ADCC) of the Hong Kong Police Force. They will provide anti-deception consultation services.
3. Contact Mainland Student Services Unit. Officer will provide the necessary support.
(Tel: 3411 2328 / Email: / Address: WLB403)