The Department of Media and Communication (COM) of the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences (CLASS) at City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK) has collaborated with China Unicom Global Limited (China Unicom) on an anti-scam project “Pioneering Technology, Linking the World: Big Data and AI’s New Role in Scam Prevention”, utilising innovative applications of big data and artificial intelligence (AI) to address the growing issue of global telecom scams. This collaboration was recognised as 2024 “Outstanding Cases of Jointly Building a Community with a Shared Future in Cyberspace” by the World Internet Conference (WIC), highlighting CityUHK’s commitment to using innovative technology to tackle real-world challenges and promote the integration of technology and social responsibility.

The 2024 WIC Wuzhen Summit, themed “Embracing a People-Centred and AI-for-Good Digital Future – Building a Community with a Shared Future in Cyberspace”, was held in Wuzhen, Zhejiang. Professor Michael Tse, Associate Vice-President (Innovation) and Director of the CityUHK Academy of Innovation (CAI), and Dr Meng Shusen, Chairman and President of China Unicom, shared the project’s results in technological innovation and social impact at the summit.

As of October 2024, the Hong Kong Police Force had recorded over 36,000 fraud cases, a 7.3% increase year on year, with total losses amounting to HK$7.04 billion. Globally, fraud-related losses have reached up to US$1 trillion, with Asia accounting for 67% of the total, amounting to HK$5.4 trillion. This reflects the trend of fraud becoming a significant global crime issue.

Professor Tse stated, “Telecom and network scams are one of the most critical social issues today. On a daily basis, over 80 million scam calls are made globally, resulting in financial losses amounting to billions of Renminbi (RMB).” He pointed out that these scams are woven together by a complex network of illicit industries. With rapid technological advancements, the issue of telecom and internet fraud is becoming increasingly severe, leading to significant annual economic losses worldwide.

He added, “CityUHK, in collaboration with scholars from the Mainland and China Unicom, aims to fundamentally enhance public awareness of fraud prevention through big data and AI technologies, providing effective scientific solutions for global anti-fraud efforts. We will continue to strengthen our collaboration with our global partners, promoting more cross-regional research, exploring emerging fraud tactics, and continuously improving personalised risk assessment models to further enhance global anti-fraud initiatives.”

The award-winning research project was initiated by Professor Xiaofan Liu, Assistant Professor in the COM, with team members including Professor Shuhua Zhou, Chair Professor in the COM, Professor Li Crystal Jiang, Associate Professor in the COM, Professor Fiona Fui-Hoon Nah, from Singapore Management University, and a research team led by Professor Ye Wu from the Centre for Computational Communication Research at Beijing Normal University. The award-winning project focuses on the issue of global telecom and internet fraud, particularly the social and economic harm caused by telecom scams. It analyses the tactics used by scammers and reveals strategies for manipulating victims’ trust and emotions, delving into the human factors behind fraud.

By integrating multi-source data from various regions worldwide, including police reports, media coverage and social media, the project has established a global fraud case database. It utilises big data and AI technologies for in-depth analysis of fraud cases. Additionally, through large language models, it accurately characterises the behavioural patterns and rhetorical strategies of scammers, and the psychological traits of victims, thereby enhancing fraud prevention capabilities and public awareness.

The team has also closely collaborated with China Unicom. Since the project’s inception, China Unicom has disseminated over 1.5 billion public welfare text messages to the public, conducted nearly 4,000 anti-scam awareness activities, and issued 30 million targeted warnings, significantly enhancing public awareness and prevention capabilities regarding scams. The project has improved the accuracy of the fraud call filtering system by 40% and reduced the false positive rate by 50%, gaining widespread recognition globally.

The WIC is one of the most influential annual events in the global internet sector, focusing on discussions of global internet issues and policies. This year, CityUHK’s research was awarded as one of 13 outstanding cases.