Exclusive | ICBC Asia to combat fraud by doubling down on AI amid rise in scams, anti-financial crimes chief says
- Bank will use ‘more of machine learning and other AI technologies’ to identify and probe scams, Tony Mak, head of the financial crime compliance department says
- ICBC Asia has successfully used tech and big data to trace scammers trying to fool its clients
“We will adopt more of machine learning and other AI technologies to identify potential fraudulent transactions, and to investigate alleged scams,” Tony Mak Wing-yin, head of the financial crime compliance department at ICBC Asia, said in an interview.
The number of cases involving scams reported in Hong Kong last year rose by 40 per cent year on year to 39,824 and involved more than HK$9 billion (US$1.2 billion), nearly doubling over the previous year, the Hong Kong police said this month.
“With the robust development of information network technology and cross-border consumption and remittances around the globe, many countries and places have seen a significant rise in deception cases and technology crimes in recent years,” the police said in a media briefing on February 6.
Scams accounted for 44.1 per cent of all crimes reported last year, and around 70 per cent of these scams were internet-related, the police added.
