By South China Morning Post | Created at 2024-09-26 23:17:44 | Updated at 2024-09-30 13:27:33
3 days ago
Hong Kong police will launch lucky draws with HK$3 million (US$385,311) worth of prizes to encourage residents to download an anti-scam app amid a surge in fraud cases, with an electric vehicle also up for grabs.
The force announced the plan this week to help its Scameter app gain traction, after reporting a 12 per cent year-on-year surge in the number of scam cases to more than 24,000 in the first seven months of 2024.
“Our app has been downloaded more than 570,000 times, but that falls behind our expectation as it is not even one-tenth of the Hong Kong population,” said Keith Yip Wan-lung, senior assistant commissioner and director of the crime and security department.
“We hope to leverage the lucky draw as an incentive, attracting more residents to download the app.”
More than 40,000 prizes will be handed out in a month-long campaign starting on October 1.
