The Investigator’s Handbook: Hong Kong Edition

What the Hong Kong edition covers

1. Hong Kong 1. Domestic legal process: who can ask for what, and how

   This chapter shows an investigator working in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region which Ordinance governs each kind of request to a telephone, internet or financial provider, who may authorise it, how long it lasts, and what a private investigator or journalist must do instead. Hong Kong has no single statute that covers access to communications data. The routes that exist are a magistrate’s search warrant, a purpose-built regime for SIM card records, court orders for organised and serious crime, and disclosure that a provider chooses to make under the data protection exemptions.

   Sections in this chapter

   • What was read, and which version
   • The map: no single access statute
   • Who may ask, and who may not
   • Voluntary disclosure and the data protection exemptions
   • Preservation: no statutory freeze for ordinary data
   • SIM card records: the purpose-built route
   • Other subscriber, IP and account records
   • Content versus non-content
   • Emergency requests
   • Time limits, notice and secrecy at a glance
   • Interception: awareness only
   • If you are a foreign investigator
   • Making the records usable as evidence
   • Worked example (generic)
   • Checklist

2. Hong Kong 2. Internet and telecom providers in Hong Kong

   This chapter explains who regulates telecommunications and internet services in Hong Kong, how to work out which provider handled an IP address, a mobile number or a domain name, what providers are required to keep, and who to approach. It uses the Ministry’s Hong Kong provider directory, which reproduces the regulator’s licence register. That directory is an address book of licensees, not a list of law-enforcement desks, and this chapter says where the gaps are.

   Sections in this chapter

   • Who regulates, and what each body tells you
   • Licence types you will meet
   • How to identify the provider
   • What providers must keep
   • Who to serve at providers
   • Using the Ministry’s Hong Kong provider directory
   • Overseas platforms and Hong Kong entities
   • Worked example (generic)
   • Checklist

3. Hong Kong 3. Banks, wallets and national reporting: money and complaints

   This chapter explains where a scam or cybercrime loss is reported in Hong Kong, which mechanisms can stop or trace money in the first hours and which cannot, what the official sources say banks do and when, and how a complaint moves from the bank to the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and the Financial Dispute Resolution Centre. It also covers stored value facilities and wallets, and the bank-to-bank information sharing law that came into operation on 3 November 2025.

   Sections in this chapter

   • National reporting: who receives what
   • Freezing, stopping and tracing money quickly
   • The regulator and the complaint ladder
   • Wallets, stored value facilities and virtual assets
   • Worked example (generic)
   • Checklist

4. Hong Kong 4. Cross-border: treaties, platform routes and what Hong Kong authorities can send out

   This chapter sets out Hong Kong’s treaty and agreement position as the official sources describe it, how a foreign agency obtains records, evidence or frozen assets from Hong Kong, what Hong Kong authorities can send abroad, and how Hong Kong investigators approach foreign platforms. The Department of Justice (DoJ) is the central authority for mutual legal assistance in both directions. The chapter reports what the official pages say; it does not comment on policy.

   Sections in this chapter

   • Hong Kong’s treaty and agreement position
   • Incoming requests: how a foreign agency gets records or assets from Hong Kong
   • Outgoing requests: what Hong Kong authorities can send abroad
   • Hong Kong requests to the major platforms
   • Decision flow: what a foreign agency should send to reach Hong Kong providers or banks
   • Checklist

5. Hong Kong 5. Templates, contacts and quick reference

   This chapter lists the Hong Kong bodies an investigator deals with and the contact details their own pages publish, gives ready-to-adapt outlines for a preservation request, three kinds of records request, an emergency request, and two outlines for foreign agencies, and ends with a one-page table of who to call first for six common case types. Each template names the provision of Hong Kong law it rests on so that you can check it against Hong Kong chapter 1.

   Sections in this chapter

   • National agencies and contacts
   • Template 1: Request to a domestic provider to preserve records
   • Template 2: Records request or production application outlines
   • Template 3: Emergency request to a Hong Kong provider
   • Template 4 (foreign agencies): request to the Secretary for Justice
   • Who do I call first? Quick reference by case type
   • Checklist

Every edition also includes the global reference: how data requests work, the seven big platforms, the 116-service directory, country routes, cryptocurrency, evidence handling, templates and a glossary. See the full contents or try the free First 24 Hours checklist.

Related directories for Hong Kong

• Hong Kong ISP and telecom directory
• Law-enforcement request hub (LERS)

Questions