First published: 17th March 2015
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has issued a warning about an e-mail purporting to be sent from Bank of China (Hong Kong) Limited (BOCHK). The email provided a link to a page that appeared to be the BOCHK online banking login, but was, in fact, a fake hosted on the website of the Bar Association of the Kingdom of Cambodia. The fake webpages (http://bakc.org.kh/its1s/boconlines2ssl/login/index.html and http://www.bakc.org.kh/km/its1s/boconlines2ssl/login/index.html) had been removed that the time of writing.
Victims of this scam should contact BOCHK at 3988 2388 and any local police station or the Cyber Security and Technology Crime Bureau of the Hong Kong Police Force at 2860 5012.
An HKMA spokesperson said, "Members of the public are reminded not to access their Internet banking accounts through hyperlinks embedded in e-mails, Internet search engines or suspicious pop-up windows. Instead, they should access their Internet banking accounts by typing the website addresses at the address bar of the browser, or by bookmarking the genuine website and using that for access. In addition, banks are not expected to send e-mails asking their customers to provide their account information (e.g. Internet banking logon passwords) or verify their account information online. If in doubt, they should contact their banks”.