HK watchdog submits 12 reports concerning 33 suspicious finfluencer posts or accounts to social media

Maria Nikolova 0 Comments April 24, 2026

The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has joined forces with securities regulators across the globe to tackle the unlawful activities of financial influencers (finfluencers).

A total of 17 IOSCO members, including the SFC, are joining this year’s regulatory initiative.

This initiative aims at disrupting the unlawful activities of finfluencers. It involves regulators undertaking regulatory measures ranging from enforcement and supervisory actions to investor education and awareness programmes.

In the past year, the SFC has made progress in tackling unlawful activities of finfluencers through robust enforcement actions and cooperation with social media platforms in taking down suspicious posts and profiles engaged in unlicensed activities.

The outcomes of the SFC’s actions included:

securing a custodial sentence against a finfluencer who was criminally convicted for providing paid investment advice on a social medial chat group without licence;
issuing a compliance advice letter to a finfluencer in connection with unlicensed promotion of overseas virtual asset trading platforms to the Hong Kong public;
submitting 12 reports concerning 33 suspicious posts or accounts to major social media platforms since July 2025 with over 90% of these reported posts or accounts being promptly removed by respective platforms; and
leveraging social media platforms to combat unlawful activities of finfluencers through joint, local engagement with the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and other authorities in Hong Kong under Anti-Scam Consumer Protection Charter 3.0, as well as regional engagement through the SFC’s leadership role in the IOSCO Asia-Pacific Regional Committee Scams Working Group.

The SFC has been proactive in strengthening its capability in detecting social media financial scams through its in-house artificial intelligence-powered social media monitoring system (SENSOR) launched in the third quarter of 2025. This system leverages AI and natural language processing technologies to monitor social media platforms for, among other red flags, unlawful promotion of financial products by finfluencers.

The SFC combats unlawful activities of finfluencers with preventative measures focusing on investor education. Notably, the SFC works closely with the Hong Kong Police Force and other regulatory authorities to crack down on misconduct, including fraudulent schemes promoted by finfluencers, through sharing intelligence and emerging trends of deceptive practices.

The regulator also joins hands with other agencies in enhancing public awareness of scams with its coordinated outreach activities extending to diverse community groups. For example, in March 2026, the SFC partnered with the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and the Chinese Banking Association of Hong Kong to host a fraud prevention and investment education session for Mainland-based university students in Hong Kong, as well as sharing anti-scam tips at a Consumer Council event for senior citizens.

Other IOSCO members participating in the Global Week in 2026 are as follows, demonstrating a broad and global commitment to addressing unlawful financial promotions: