On the Eve of Employee Choice: Beware Fake Intermediaries Moving Your MPF

This article is a rewrite of a report from October 2012.

Semi-portability launched next month, letting workers switch plans themselves — but scammers moved faster than policy. Mr Ho received a call from a self-described “MPF agency” staffer, evasive in manner, urging him to hand over his old preserved account for transfer. Employee choice hadn’t started; fake intermediaries already had.

How did the scammers work?

Posing as all-powerful agents, targeting old accounts. The caller claimed to represent MPF services territory-wide, pressing Ho to move his preserved account to another financial firm. The MPFA logged 15 intermediary complaints in the year’s first ten months — two more than all of last year — mostly service quality.

How do you protect yourself?

Three moves: ask, check, call. MPFA chief operating officer Law Shing-mui stressed the MPFA never invites citizens to meetings, never asks for account details to sell products, and never delegates anyone to do so. On sales calls, first ask whether the caller is a registered intermediary — name, registration number, company, which plans they represent. Doubts? Check the MPFA’s online intermediary register or call hotline 2918 0102.

Why was it so easy to fall for?

No identity, no way to judge. Consumer Council chief Lau Yan-keung said mystery sales calls breached the new conduct regime; without declared identity, consumers couldn’t judge credibility, and commission-chasing agents might push unsuitable products. Lawmakers blasted long-standing mis-selling, questioning whether the government should step in as an intermediary itself.

What did officials say?

Nothing ruled out. KC Chan said the government understood MPF’s poor reputation and ruled out no means of stamping out mis-selling; the 1.73% average expense ratio was down 17% since 2008, with room to fall further. The Code of Conduct for Registered Intermediaries was issued: only registered intermediaries could sell; violators faced reprimand, suspension or permanent deregistration.

What is the lesson from 2012?

2012’s fake intermediaries are the stock extras of every MPF reform. Policy arrives; scammers follow — because reform creates information asymmetry, and asymmetry is scammers’ oxygen. The “ask, check, call” trio remains the standard answer years on: checking the licence never goes out of style.