On Thursday's Backchat, we're talking about the rising number of deception cases, with more than 20,000 reported in the first half of this year resulting in HK$4.4 billion in losses.

Police said an increasing number of the victims were tech-savvy youngsters since fraudsters often impersonate WeChat and Taobao representatives, two platforms commonly used by mainland students.

They also warned that the start of classes in September could see an uptick in the number of students falling prey to financial and visa scams.

So how many cases go unreported? Where do the fraudsters operate from? And how difficult is it to recover lost assets? We'll talk to the experts.

After 9:45, we learn more from PolyU on the awards they won at the Silicon Valley International Inventions Festival.


9:05am-9:50am:Online scams targeting young people

9:05am-9:50am: Francis Comtois, Principal of Comtois Solicitor

9:05am-9:30am: Anthony Lai, Malware Analyst and Founder of VX Research

9:30am-9:50am: Grace Wong,  Chief Inspector of Police, Anti-Deception Coordination Centre, Commercial Crime Bureau, Hong Kong Police


9:50am-10:00am: PolyU Silicon Valley awards

9:45am-10:00am: Zheng Zijian, Chair Professor of Soft Materials and Devices, Department of Applied Biology and Chemical Technology, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University