The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) issued an alert following reports of phishing instant messages linked to Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (Asia) Limited, directing the public to the bank’s related press release via a hyperlink on the HKMA website. The HKMA reiterated that banks will not send SMS or emails containing embedded hyperlinks to their websites to carry out transactions and will not request sensitive personal information such as login passwords or One-Time Passwords by phone, email or SMS, including via embedded hyperlinks. It advised anyone who provided personal information or conducted financial transactions in response to the messages to contact the bank using the contact details in the bank’s press release and to report the matter to the Police.