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The Force held the Hong Kong Island (HKI) Little Grape Anti-Deception Campaign cum Opening Ceremony for the Little Grape Garden at Harcourt Garden in Admiralty on March 16 to raise public awareness of scammers through the Force’s anti-scam mascot The Little Grape. The garden is located in Harcourt Garden. From March 16 till February 2026, 26 sets of Little Grape Art Installation of various designs and different sizes will be displayed, hoping to become photo-taking hotspots for families and tourists.
Director of Operations Chan Tung officiated at the opening ceremony for the garden. He also recounted a wide array of anti-deception publicity campaigns conducted by HKI at sea, on land and in the air since the third quarter of 2024. The nautical campaigns were namely “Little Grape Bling Bling @ Victoria Harbour”, transformation of Central Pier 10 into Little Grape Pier and provision of Little Grape-themed water taxis. On land, minibuses on designated routes were adorned with anti-deception messages. The aerial campaigns were “The Little Grape meets the Giant Pandas” and Little Grape-themed cable cars. These were successful examples of coordinated effort between Public Relations (PR) Wing, Region and Districts after the establishment of the PR Coordination Committee.
Fifth birthday of The Little Grape
To strengthen publicity and education efforts to raise the public’s anti-deception awareness, PR Wing designed a cartoon version of a piece of grape, which came in various shapes and emotions, and launched it in June 2020 as the anti-scam mascot. It not only interacts with citizens online, but also appears offline in real-life settings.
The Little Grape is about to celebrate its fifth birthday. It has been actively featured across various social media accounts of the Force over the past five years. For instance, on the Police Facebook page, there have been nearly 400 posts related to The Little Grape in the past two years. Its appearance frequency has significantly increased from six posts per month in the second quarter of 2023 to 23 posts per month in the first quarter of this year, aiming to inform the public about fraudsters’ tactics promptly.
Narrows increase of fraud cases
While The Little Grape has a cute image, the effectiveness of its anti-fraud campaign is noteworthy. The increase in fraud cases has significantly narrowed from 89.3% in 2020 to 11.7% last year, with the amount involved also decreasing by 30 million dollars year-on-year.
