Info Center

The Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority (MPFA) is very concerned about enquiries from members of the public who said they had received calls from people claiming to be staff members or representatives of the MPFA, or someone commissioned by the MPFA, seeking for face-to-face meetings to discuss their Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) investment or provide them with information about the MPF.
 
MPFA Chief Corporate Affairs Officer Cheng Yan-chee emphasized that the MPFA never contacts members of the public to set up meetings or to ask for information about their MPF accounts to sell them MPF products, nor does the MPFA ever commission anyone to do so.
 
The MPFA received 16 related enquiries in July, a significant increase over a total of six cases received in June. The MPFA also received 20 enquiries from members of the public who said they had received calls last month from people claiming to be representatives of an MPF agent, an MPF management company, an MPF consultant firm or an MPF statistics centre, etc. The callers asked for meetings to discuss the members’ MPF investment or to provide them with MPF-related information. Members of the public might believe that the callers were related to the MPFA.
 
The MPFA reminds members of the public who receive such calls:

1. To pay attention to the caller’s identity, including the caller’s name, the name of the company the caller represents, the contact number, etc; 
2. Not to disclose any personal information under any circumstances; 
3. The MPFA never contacts members of the public to set up meetings or to ask for information about their MPF accounts to sell them MPF products. If the call is suspicious, call the MPFA Hotline on 2918 0102 to enquire whether the caller is an MPFA staff member; 
4. Only registered intermediaries can promote MPF products to members of the public; 
5. There is no legislation prohibiting MPF intermediaries from calling MPF scheme members to promote MPF products, but members of the public should:

       i. first confirm whether the caller is a registered intermediary; 

      ii. consider whether an intermediary is really needed to help handle their MPF account(s) or any other aspect of
          their MPF investment before arranging a face-to-face meeting with the intermediary; and  

  f.  To contact the Police immediately if the call is suspected to be a scam.

Members of the public can check whether an intermediary is registered with the MPFA by:       

1. accessing the Register of MPF Intermediaries on the MPFA website;
2. calling the MPFA Hotline (2918 0102); or
3. enquiring with the caller’s principal intermediary (generally refers to the company the intermediary represents).

There is a notice on the homepage of the MPFA website reminding members of the public to beware of suspicious calls. In addition, the MPFA issued a circular to all MPF principal intermediaries at the beginning of the year, reminding them to exercise caution when engaging marketing partners to promote their MPF services by phone. They were also advised to make sure that such telemarketing activities comply with the law. Details can be found in the related press release.
 
Depending on the nature of each of the cases, the MPFA will report and refer them to the Police for investigation and follow-up action.
 
- Ends -

12 August 2015