The Office of the Communications Authority (OFCA) today (14 November 2016) urged members of the public to continue to stay alert to fraudulent calls purporting to be made by OFCA.
A spokesperson for OFCA said, "OFCA has received further reports from members of the public on their receipt of phone calls in the past two days purporting to be made by OFCA with a pre-recorded message, both in Cantonese and Putonghua, claiming that the called party had contravened the Telecommunications Ordinance and that his/her phone service would be suspended."
According to the reports, the calling number display showed a "+" sign prefixed to the calling number of the fraudulent message.
"We wish to emphasise that OFCA has never made such calls and would not make phone calls to members of the public with pre-recorded messages. Members of the public should be aware that calling numbers with a '+' sign as a prefix displayed on mobile phones indicate that the calls originate from outside Hong Kong even though the calling numbers may be masqueraded as Hong Kong phone numbers," the spokesperson said.
"We urge everyone to stay alert and report any suspected fraudulent calls to the Police, irrespective of whether a '+' sign is displayed as a prefix to the calling numbers. If they have any questions regarding the status of their telecommunications services, they should contact their telecommunications operators for details direct, and under no circumstances should they disclose their personal information over the phone," the spokesperson added.
Office of the Communications Authority
14 November 2016