$1.23m lost after online buyer tries to buy cheap laptop

A Hong Kong resident lost HK$1.23 million after making 80 transfers over a month while trying to buy a cheap secondhand laptop online, police said.

Police’s anti-scam platform CyberDefender said in a social media post on Monday that the victim found a bargain-priced laptop on a price-comparison website in March.

During the transaction, the seller repeatedly asked for additional payments under the pretext of “shipping costs” and “customs clearance fees.”

Believing the requests were genuine, the victim made 80 separate transfers, including cash deposits through Bitcoin ATMs.

The victim only realized it was a scam after speaking to family members.

CyberDefender said the victim had fallen into the “sunk cost fallacy,” a psychological trap in which people continue investing money or effort because they have already committed resources.

In this case, the victim believed that paying one more fee would help recover both the laptop and the money already transferred, instead of recognizing the transaction as a scam.

Police urged the public to stay alert when shopping online, warning that repeated fee requests, especially when they exceed the value of the goods, are a clear red flag.

𝗗𝗼𝘄𝗻𝗹𝗼𝗮𝗱 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗔𝗽𝗽 ↓