The police say they'll launch scam alerts for people who transfer money via Hong Kong's Faster Payment System from later this year, saying they've seen a surge in cases of fraud involving online shoppers paying for goods.

Officers say they've recorded a 23.2 percent increase in online shopping fraud cases in the first half of this year, and most of the 4,800 cases involve the FPS, through which people can make payments by simply entering a mobile phone number or email address, known as a proxy.

They said losses from fraud cases exceeded HK$94 million in the six month to June, more than one and a half times the sum taken in the same period last year.

The FPS was launched by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority in 2018, and the HKMA will work with the police and the Hong Kong Association of Banks to send users alerts if the party they're connecting with is included in a database linked to scam cases.

”When a citizen intends to transfer money via FPS proxies to another person, during the process, we will match the FPS proxy with our Scameter database," Superintendent Chan Shun-ching from the Cyber Security and Technology Crime Bureau told reporters.

"Once the FPS proxy match with our Scameter database as the highest risk level, then the citizen will instantly receive an alert warning. The citizen can take the time to think again whether they would like to proceed with the transfer."

Meanwhile, officers also highlighted another technique used in a growing number of cases: buying goods online and sending a cheque that the buyer knows will bounce.

Police say one way sellers can reduce their risk is by checking the available balance in their account after receiving a payment, as this will reflect money that has actually cleared. In contrast, the account balance may include transactions that are still pending.

Officers also said sellers should avoid accepting payments by cheque. They say online shoppers should try to complete transactions face to face, and beware of transferring money to personal accounts through FPS.