First published: 31st October 2015
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) first warned about a fraudulent website, http://www.hkicgroup.com/, in February 2015 yet the site remains operational at the time of writing. As reported in our February newsletter, the site claims that the so-called "HKIC Group" is regulated by the HKMA, and displays the HKMA logo, but the HKMA denies the claim and warns that "HKIC Group" is not authorised to operate as a bank in Hong Kong.
Seven months later, we reported on the HKMA warning about a remarkably similar site, http://www.kowloonglobal.com, and noted that the original site was still operational. At that time, neither the Police or HKMA commented because of n ongoing Police investigation. The http://www.kowloonglobal.com site ceased operation sometime between 21 September 2015 and 13 October 2015. The Police confirmed that they had completed their investigation on 13 October 2015.
We asked the HKMA why the http://www.hkicgroup.com/ site was still operational, still displayed the HKMA logo, and whether they had contacted the UK authorities (where the site is hosted) to have the site taken down. The HKMA responded:
The HKMA does not have a law enforcement role. When fraudulent websites come to our attention, it is our practice to report them to the Police and issue a press release to alert the public to the risk. These press releases are kept on our website for reference. The Police generally do not comment on cases that are subject to investigation.
It is apparent that the HKMA has no means of controlling the misuse of their logo, if the website is hosted overseas. Users need to be aware that anything they see on a website can be easily copied by fraudsters to make fake sites look more convincing, and fake sites can be set up very quickly, often disappearing after only a few hours. This case is remarkable because a fake site that is known about by the relevant authorities continues to operate after seven months, and after the conclusion of a Police investigation.