Many university students are feeling anxious and hesitant because of too many club affairs.

By Christine Tang

Amy Chan*, a student at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), quit a service club that aims at nurturing tertiary students into future leaders, due to a mismatch between expectations and reality.  

“I would warn freshmen to consider seriously before getting involved in any societies at university.  Hold realistic expectations that even if you go along with your friends happily, you can still end up in distress yourself,” the Year Two student says. 

“I once thought we could organise what we wanted freely with much financial support and few limitations,” the former public relation officer of the club adds. 

“There were way too many meetings, most frequently twice a week lasting for two hours for my post. The aim of the meetings was usually to achieve consensus between students and advisors in organising activities. Sometimes, I had to join meetings over the phone because there was a time clash between the club’s work and my personal life,” she says. 

“Other than meetings, off-campus training with other universities’ units, which aimed to build up leadership skills, lasted even longer, like for the whole day long or even overnight when the pandemic was not that serious,” Chan adds. 

It is even harder in event execution, as students had to gain approval from the unit’s advisor every time in deciding what and how events should be like. For example, even the name of events, graphics and texts of social media posts had to be approved by the advisor, limiting students’ freedom in event planning and execution. 

While the experience of organising event is not what Chan imagined, the friendships with her friends have also been adversely affected due to personal matters. They are no longer close now. 

“Of course, I do feel a bit remorseful as I left my friends behind. But overall speaking, the benefits outweigh the loss, as I am now mentally less stressed. Back then, my schedule was so packed that I could hardly enjoy university life,” Chan says. 

“Luckily, the process of quitting was smooth as other members and the advisor show their understanding of my situation,” Chan says.  

Another university student, Chloe Lau*, quit a service club because of her mental health. 

“They got mad at me because I was not involved much in designing products, while they never understood my situation as I was having depression at that time due to the social movement,” the Year Four student at CUHK says. 

“Differences in value judgment drove us apart. I was way more concerned about the socio-political situation of Hong Kong than they were. I did not think it was worth all the hassle to make souvenirs to be put on campus. To me, obviously, the social unrest was a more pressing issue,” the former design officer of the club adds. 

Lau got involved in the club in Year One in the hope of serving the community and making new friends, as she had a good experience doing voluntary service back in secondary school.  

But none of her expectations were met. 

“I realized we were not true friends as they did not even care about my mental health but the work. After quitting, I gradually got better emotionally and concluded that birds of different feathers do not flock together,” Lau says. 

Despite the dissatisfactory experience, she realises her passion and values in being part of another society after two years. She finds her values in promoting public awareness about sex and gender. 

“I would strongly encourage people to get counselling service on campus when necessary as it is free of charge when you are still a CUHK student. It is rare to have people listening to you without judgment while being very supportive, ” Lau says.  

“I had insomnia problems back then and got diagnosed with depression very soon. Then, I was prescribed antidepressant from the university health service,” Lau adds. 

Another university student, Celine Pang*, also quit a society for her own good. 

Pang, once an exco-member of a debating team at CUHK, decided to quit after being in the team for two years. 

“We got three-hour meetings twice a week and on top of that I had to join competitions which would usually take up an entire weekend. At times, I had to multitask to get prepared for my mid-term and final exams,” the Year Three student says. 

“Especially now I do not live in dorm, it started to take up a lot of time and I also started to get a lot busier with schoolwork, so I decided it was not really worth it to join a society anymore” Pang says.  

Students take part in club activities for different reasons. One of the common reasons for CUHK students to live on campus is to earn enough hostel points in a bid to retain a bed place at the dormitory. 

While joining the society was a bigger commitment than she initially expected and realised, other underlying factors, including interpersonal problems, also led her quitting the team. 

“Sometimes it would take up a lot of my emotional strength as I cried several times. It also took me time to deal with major disagreements within the committee members,” she says. 

“It was just troublesome and draining to deal with, though it was mostly just differences in opinions arising due to different people being in the same team,” she says. 

According to a written reply provided by Megan Tsang, one of the supervisory staff members at Office of Student Affairs, CUHK promotes whole-person development and encourages students to enrich their university life.

“CUHK students could join different student organizations or participate in diverse student programmes. Students join activities according to their own interests. For example, some may wish to learn from operating a student society by being ExCo members; some may participate in other interest clubs or social service teams,” the head of Student Development and Resources Section says in her reply. 

She notes that while students could learn from joining non-formal activities, they are reminded that time management and striking a balance between academic study and activities are also important. 

*Names Changed at interviewees’ request

Sub-edited by Chaelim Kim

Mainland students experience phone scams in Hong Kong.

By Lily Wang

Elisa Yang was swindled out of HKD25,000(USD3,212.5) in a phone scam in August 2022 and is still waiting for news from the Hong Kong and Mainland police officers after reporting her case. The traumatized university student now only uses WeChat Pay, Alipay, and cash in payment. 

The phone fraudster impersonating a Department of Health employee claimed that Yang’s Leave Home Save App records showed she stayed somewhere in Tsim Sha Tsui with many confirmed COVID-19 cases reported on August 26th. Yang was told that she would be sent to a quarantine place, and she had to pay HKD25,000 as a deposit for the use of quarantine facilities with her credit card. Though she had no detail about where she would be sent, she gave the scammer her mainland credit card number.   

“I received the phone call on August 27 afternoon. I was so nervous about issues related to COVID-19. I used to regularly receive messages checking my situation from Health Department when I was in Mainland China,” says Yang.  

The year two student only arrived in Hong Kong for a few days when the case occurred. Because of the pandemic, she did most of the classes through Zoom after being admitted to the Chinese University of Hong Kong. 

“I shared my fear of going to a government quarantine facility with my friends one day after receiving the phone call. Then I realized that this could be a phone fraud,” Yang adds. 

“Now all my cards are frozen as the mainland bank freezes my account. I rely only on WeChat Pay, Alipay, and a limited amount of cash for my daily expenses,” the Chinese University student says. 

“Since then, I doubt every decision I make. I fear that I might have become a laughingstock among my peers. Would they think I am a stupid girl, as I could easily be scammed? I wonder if they look down on me and do not want to be friends?” Yang says.  

Another university student Mike Yang also received a similar phone scam but managed to spot and protect himself.  

Yang received the call on October 11. The fraudster impersonated an officer from the High Court of Hong Kong, claiming that the Chinese University student had to settle a credit card bill of HKD 38,800 (USD4,985.8) within a week or else he would be sent to jail. 

“He told me that I consumed that bill on August 7 in Harbor City,” he recalled. 

“I was generally a cautious person. Though I was nervous, I kept asking the scammer questions such as which shop exactly I spent the money in and what the credit card number was,” the 18-year-old student recalled. 

He argued with the first scammer and the call was transferred to another fraudster posing as a senior officer from the High Court.  

“The senior one made up a credit card number for me and stressed the seriousness of the crime. I almost believed in their trick. I gave the scammer my Hong Kong Identity Card number and the last four digits of my credit card number and asked them to check the bill again,” the student says.  

After the first call, the fraudsters called him several times urging him to settle the payment. He then realized that this might be a phone scam. 

“I still feel worried now. I don’t know whether the information I gave them will cause me trouble later,” Yang says, adding that he has not suffered any losses so far. 

Regarding Elisa Yang’s case, police said in an email dated December 22 that the case is still under investigation.  

“Telephone deception is a cross-jurisdictional syndicated criminal activity. Swindlers made scam calls outside Hong Kong, sometimes with VoIP technology or prepaid SIM card. Part of the deceived money was deposited or transferred to bank accounts outside Hong Kong and dissipated instantly, making it difficult for fund tracing and police investigation,” the reply to states.  

The number of deception cases recorded increased from 648 to 1687 from 2019 to 2022. Police handled 906 “pretending officials” cases in the first nine months of 2022 with a total loss of HKD 721 million (USD92million). 

The reply also states that “the excuses made by fraudsters are unusually closely relating to current affairs. For instance, during the pandemic, the fraudster used excuses related to illegal delivery of vaccine or violation of quarantine order at the outset and duped victims into divulging their personal or financial information.” 

Police set up Anti-Deception Coordination Center in July 2017 to help monitor deception trends, implement combating strategies, and collaborate with the banking industry and oversea law enforcement agencies to intercept the proceeds of crime.  

The public should be aware of phone calls asking for money, personal information, and downloading unknown software, according to police.  

On avoiding phone scams, here are a few tips from police: 

1 DO NOT transfer money to strangers’ bank accounts.  

2 DO NOT install any unknown software or suspicious application on mobile phones or computers. 

3 DO NOT input personal information into any unknown website or application. 

4 DO NOT disclose your personal information to strangers. 

5 “Three Dos” against telephone deception – “Hang Up,” “Verify,” and “Get Help”. 

6 Remind your relatives and friends to stay alert against deception, and if in doubt, please call the Anti-Scam Helpline 18222. 

Sub-edited by Chaelim Kim