Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region
HKPF holds 2026 Bank Staff Recognition Ceremony to commend banking industry for their contributions to scam prevention
Addressing the ceremony, the Commissioner of Police, Mr Chow Yat-ming, highlighted that deception cases which had been rising continuously since 2019 recorded the first decline last year. A total of 43 212 cases were registered, representing a decrease of 2.9 per cent compared to 2024. The amount of losses also dropped from HK$9.2 billion to HK$8.1 billion. He emphasised that this achievement was made possible through the collective efforts of all stakeholders, especially the banking industry.
He added that the Police and the banking industry have been working closely in preventing and combating deception. The “Anti-Scam Helpline 18222” and the “Anti-Scam Bank Helpline” established by the Police successfully intercepted 1 552 fraud cases last year, accounting for 13.1 per cent of all such cases. The amount of fraudulent funds intercepted reached HK$2.09 billion, representing a significant increase of over 40 per cent compared to 2024.
In tackling deception, both local measures and cross-border collaboration are essential. To this end, four strategies have been adopted by the Police and the banking sector:
(1) Combating fraud industry chain: With the new legislation allowing bank-to-bank information sharing on suspicious personal accounts coming into effect, the Police, in collaboration with the banking industry, have launched the upgraded version of the “Financial Intelligence Evaluation Sharing Tool (FINEST)” platform. Interbank information sharing has recorded a multi-fold increase and participation is also set to expand to include all 28 retail banks. The number of stooge accounts dropped from 6 047 in the third quarter of 2025 to 5 781 in the fourth quarter, representing a decrease of 4.4 per cent. In addition, the “Upstream Scam Intervention” scheme, which analyses transaction patterns of stooge accounts and proactively contacts potential victims, intercepted 4 060 fraud cases last year and prevented losses of over HK$480 million, representing increases of 69.4 per cent and more than 1.5 times, respectively, compared with 2024.
(2) Targeted publicity: The Police, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), the Hong Kong Association of Banks (HKAB) and the banking industry organise various anti-deception campaigns. The publicity this year focuses on investment scams, with the elderly continuing to be the key target group.
(3) Promoting greater use of “Scameter+”: The app began leveraging artificial intelligence technology in October last year to automatically detect fraudulent websites posing as banking and investment platforms, with the database updated immediately to block access. Following the launch of this new function, there was a significant increase in both public reports and alerts issued. By the end of 2025, the app had been downloaded 1.15 million times.
(4) Enhancing international collaboration: The Police have actively promoted the Cross-border Anti-Scam Collaboration Platform “FRONTIER+”. Through joint operations last year, more than 1 800 persons were arrested, and US$20 million in fraudulent funds were intercepted. By strengthening real-time intelligence analysis and sharing it with the banks, overseas victims were promptly identified and fraudulent payments were intercepted, reducing their financial losses.
Looking ahead, Mr Chow firmly believed that through the partnership between the Police and the banking industry, a strong protective network could be built, reinforcing Hong Kong’s image and position as a robust international financial centre. He expressed his heartfelt gratitude to the HKMA, the HKAB, and the banking industry for their full support and outstanding contributions.
At the ceremony, a total of 19 banks received corporate awards. In addition, 639 frontline bank staff proactively assisted customers suspected of being targeted by scams last year, successfully preventing 595 cases. Among them, the Police presented the “Spotlight Award” to 16 staff members in recognition of their exemplary performance. Awardees are listed in the Annex.
The officiating guests also included the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Operations), Mr Yip Wan-lung; the Director of Crime and Security, Mr Chan Tung; the Executive Director (Enforcement and AML) of the HKMA, Mr Raymond Chan; and the representative of the HKAB, Ms Grace Yeung.
Issued at HKT 15:40
NNNN