Cybersecurity experts have urged Hong Kong residents to prioritise the use of an official one-stop digital identity app to register their accounts on the city’s new centralised pension fund platform to prevent theft after scammers stole HK$1.8 million.
Some also questioned why the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority (MPFA), which manages the eMPF platform, did not deploy the government’s “iAM Smart” app as a mandatory process for verifying the identity of users from the outset.
They called on MPF members to create accounts on the eMPF platform as soon as possible to pre-empt scammers.
Last week, police arrested five people on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud and money laundering after they allegedly used fake Hong Kong identity card information to create 12 accounts on the eMPF platform and stole HK$1.8 million from the funds of three residents.
The case triggered alarm bells over the security of the HK$1.5 trillion (US$192 billion) in net assets held by the city’s 4.75 million MPF scheme members.
The syndicate exploited the “electronic Know-Your-Customer” process, or eKYC, posing as account holders by using sophisticated fake IDs, creating fraudulent accounts and siphoning retirement funds.
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