The Anti-Deception Coordination Centre (ADCC) of the Hong Kong Police Force organized the "West Kowloon CHILL RUN Winter Market cum Anti-Scam Charity Run 2023" at the West Kowloon Cultural District yesterday (Dec. 17). The event aimed at raising public awareness of prevalent scams through an innovative approach, so as to increase public awareness of scam prevention and to minimize their chances of being scammed. At the same time, it also raised funds to help two local charity organizations, namely, "Food Angel", and "Operation Breakthrough".
Addressing the opening ceremony, the Commissioner of Police, Mr Siu Chak-yee, said that the number of deception cases around the world has continued to rise in recent years. Hong Kong is also facing the same challenge. In the first 10 months this year, Hong Kong has recorded 33 923 deception cases, an increase of more than 50 percent as compared with the same period last year. Police have been endeavoring to combat scams through a multi-pronged strategy, including intelligence gathering, enforcement action, as well as publicity and education. However, it takes more than the efforts of the Police to combat deception effectively. In order to comprehensively enhance the effectiveness to fight against deception, it is necessary for all sectors of the community to unite together to make good use of the expertise and resources in different areas, work together to formulate measures to combat deception and promote anti-deception messages. Mr Siu also appealed to the public to pay more attention to the Police's scam prevention publicity, stay vigilant at all times and make good use of the Police's round-the-clock inquiry hotline "Anti-Scam Helpline 18222" and "Scameter+". They should also actively share scam prevention messages with people around them.
Also officiating at the ceremony were the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Operations), Mr Chow Yat-ming; the Director of Crime and Security, Mr Yip Wan-lung; the Assistant Commissioner (Crime), Ms Chung Wing-man; the Chief Superintendent of the Commercial Crime Bureau, Mr Yau Kin-hung; and the Deputy Director of Macao Judiciary Police, Mr Sou Sio-keong.
This is the first charity event under the theme of anti-scam organized by the Police. The Charity Run in the morning attracted more than 1,750 registrations from the public. The Kowloon West Region won the "Most Supportive Police Major Formation" award while the Kai Shing Management Services Limited Company, a subsidiary of Sun Hung Kai Properties, won the "Most Supportive Organisation" award. In addition to the Champion, First Runner-up and Second Runner-up prizes for the Male and Female group's 4km event, the Charity Run also featured new prizes for the "Best Anti-scam Theme Costume Award", the "Best Christmas Theme Costume Award" and the "Most Creative Costume Award". As a result, many runners dressed up to compete for the awards.
In addition, Mr Siu also presented the "Outstanding Partnership" trophies to 26 representatives from public and private organizations attending the event to pay tributes to their contribution in assisting the Police in preventing and combating scam in the past year.
For more details on this event, please visit the website of the ADCC (www.adcc.gov.hk).
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