Police report $356m lost to online scams, with concert ticket frauds ramping up

The city continues to face a surge in scams, as police recorded 11,559 online shopping fraud cases last year, a nearly 30 percent increase compared to the previous year, with losses totaling HK$356 million—almost double the prior figure.

Among these cases, over 15 percent was related to concert tickets, involving approximately HK$18 million. Other common scam categories included tour packages, clothings, cosmetics, electronic appliances, baby items, and online gaming accounts. 

The police indicated that 40 percent of these scams involved fraudsters creating fake Facebook pages, with 15 percent claiming to sell internal concert tickets, leading to losses exceeding HK$60 million.

After receiving payments from victims, the scammers often disappear while some delay the shipping, leaving victims without concert tickets.

One of the most significant losses reported from concert ticket fraud involved a 40-year-old local woman enticed into purchasing multiple tickets at a seemingly discounted price. After 256 transactions, she found herself out around HK$1 million, only to discover that she never received any tickets at all.

With many concerts scheduled at the new Kai Tak Sports Park, police urged the public to remain cautious as an increase in concert ticket scams is anticipated.

The police noted that scammers tended to misuse famous brands' logos and fake customer reviews to create "persuasive" pages, along with paid advertising to promote counterfeit deals.

Another emerging scam is "Carousell phishing link scams" which trick victims into providing their bank account information on a fake Carousell website, accounting for seven percent of last year's fraud cases, with over HK$43 million losses.

The third common scam involved bounced cheques, representing about 4 percent of online shopping fraud cases with losses nearing HK$22 million, in which scammers take advantage of public misunderstandings of account balance by using invalid cheques and asking the victims to return the differences.

While technology-related scams saw a slight 0.6 percent decrease—from 34,112 cases in 2023 to 33,903 this year—the authorities highlighted the increase in losses of online shopping fraud, particularly from high-value cryptocurrency or foreign exchange transactions, with the largest single case involving nearly HK$3 million.

The police advised the public to shop from reputable sellers and use the Scameter tool to identify fraudulent websites.

Stanley Lee Kei-chuen, president of the E-commerce Association of Hong Kong, reminds consumers to utilize third-party payment platforms to avoid direct transactions for online shopping.

Lee also suggested implementing real-name concert ticketing to eliminate fake tickets and scalping.