Investor Alert Hong Kong

It has come to the attention of abrdn Hong Kong Limited (“abrdn Hong Kong Limited “ or “the Company”) that the brand name of “abrdn” or “安本” have been used illegally by some fraudulent mobile applications and websites to solicit investments. The Company has alerted our clients and the general public at once, reminding investors to be vigilant of the fraudulent applications and websites which purported to be provided by the Company.

abrdn hereby clarifies and reiterates that the Company has never launched or authorized any mobile or online applications in Hong Kong. The Company has absolutely no affiliation with the above mentioned or any other mobile applications that offer investment schemes. Furthermore, our products are only sold to the general public via our appointed third-party distributors which are regulated and licensed by local authorities to engage in such distribution activities. If you would like to invest or require financial advice, please get in touch with our appointed distributors, details of which can be found on our website under ‘How to invest’. We have immediately reported the incidents to the relevant local regulators and authorities.

abrdn will not be responsible for any losses that may result from any members of the public using the fraudulent mobile applications or websites. The Company reserves the right to take legal action against any parties that infringe our intellectual property rights or associate our identity and trademark with any unlawful activities.

Anyone who has been a victim of the fraud should immediately seek assistance from your local law enforcement office.

abrdn's official website and social media channels are as follows:

• Website (Hong Kong): https://www.abrdn.com/en-hk/investor
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/abrdnplc
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/abrdn

For abrdn’s clients, please contact us at Client.Services-Asia@abrdn.com if you have any enquiries.

Please be alert when browsing websites, receiving telephone calls, text messages or emails from people purporting to represent abrdn or third parties purporting to represent our interests.

We are aware of a number of scams and attempted frauds through phone calls and websites claiming to be from abrdn offering an investment/employment opportunity or offering to buy existing investment shares (e.g. High Yield/Fixed Rate Bonds). In addition, price comparison websites, social media advertising and search optimisation are being used to attract victims. If you have any concerns, contact us using the details on our Contact Us page.

Suspicious callers:

Members of the public may be contacted by people who claim to be from abrdn and even using legitimate abrdn employee names; fraudsters will often provide details to give the impression that they are calling on behalf of abrdn in order to try and make you invest with them. They may try and attempt to sell you products, bonds or investments with the promise of financial gain or offer you advice over the telephone or email you links to bogus websites; they may even also have official sounding names and job titles.

However, these callers do not work for abrdn; abrdn would never make these types of offers and does not ‘cold-call’ investors in this way. Any third party making such offers has no links with abrdn. These are attempts at fraud, they will either not exist or in fact be worthless; customers are advised not to respond to opportunities through cold callers, if something seems too good to be true it often is. You can refer to your local abrdn website for a list of authorised funds in your country.

Suspicious emails:

Similar to cold calling, fraudsters may contact you by email. They may ask you to provide personal information by email; the source of the email may be unclear or the company name and email address may be slightly misspelt. Be alert for emails which contain poor grammar, spelling or punctuation.

Payment to Third Party Account:

abrdn will never ask you to pay funds into an account in the name of a third party, when investing with abrdn you will always be requested to pay into an account in the name of abrdn or one of its subsidiaries.

How can you protect yourself:

• Never provide personal details including passwords or answers to your security questions in an email. We never make these types of requests or offers via telephone call or email and would never contact potential investors in this way. If you have any doubt over the veracity of a person purporting to represent us, do not offer any personal information, end the call and contact us using the details on our Contact Us page
• Always seek independent financial advice and/or legal advice before proceeding with any investment.
• Never send funds to anyone you do not know.
• You should not respond to anyone who calls you purporting to represent abrdn and attempting to sell you investment opportunities, simply hang up the phone.
• Type in the web address from official correspondence instead of clicking on a link.
• Genuine web addresses should begin with “https://www.”.
• When the site you are visiting is genuine you should see a padlock symbol to the left hand side of the address bar. This applies when reaching payment pages as well. The web address should begin with “https” and have the padlock symbol to the left of the address bar.
• You can check if the firm is authorised by checking with your local financial regulator and/or your local anti-fraud advocacy group.

PLEASE NOTE: If you deal with an unauthorised firm you will have no protection if something goes wrong. In addition, abrdn is not responsible nor liable for reimbursing losses.

If you think you have been the victim of a fraudulent scam, or that someone is trying to defraud you, contact your bank and the Police as soon as possible. Fraudsters are known to re-target those previously targeted, claiming that they can recover lost money; this is false. There are other actions you can take, depending on what country you live in.

The services in this list can help if you have, or think you have been the victim of fraud:

Additional services may be available in your area, either from your government or consumer advice bodies. You can also search online for topics like "fraud prevention" or "report fraud".

If you have been caught out, it’s important that you report it to the authorities. If you do not report it to the authorities then we will not be able to assist. There may be others who have also fallen victim of the same scam and your information may form part of a bigger investigation and assist with an ongoing investigation.

If you have any fraud or financial crime related queries please contact our Anti-Financial Crime team.