Teach people how to avoid fraud: police chief
Police Commissioner Raymond Siu said on Saturday that more work was needed to educate the public on internet scams, as he urged people to be more vigilant against fraud.  A surge in fraud was cited as a key factor in last year's 29 percent year-on-year increase in crime cases, announced this week. Siu said more than HK$9 billion was lost to fraud last year, and online scams made up 70 percent of cases.  Speaking on a RTHK programme, he urged people to be cautious online, noting that money lost to fraud is difficult to trace. "We have some tools that are free for people to use, but the most important question is whether they will use it or not. One tool is our anti-scam helpline 18222. We noted that there were 37 percent more people calling this number last year, which is around more than 50,000 people. But we still don't think it is enough," he said.  "We increased the number of staff working on the hotline last year. I hope that people will make full use of it. Even if you have the slightest suspicion, make the call as it only takes one to two minutes of your time. You could prevent the loss of your savings." Siu also addressed a recent case in which a clerk was tricked into transferring HK$200 million after scammers used artificial intelligence to create so-called "deepfakes" of company officials for a video conference. The police chief warned that fraudsters would continue to take advantage of technological advances, and that people needed to be on high alert. "These deception tactics are not impossible to solve. When someone is talking to you virtually, there are ways to check if it is actually someone you know," he said.  "You can ask them specific questions to see if they are real or fake. You can even move around in front of the camera to check." He added that the force was working closely with the banking industry and telecommunications companies to strengthen anti-fraud work.