Financial losses to online shopping scams totaled HK$356 million ($45.6 million) in Hong Kong in 2024, an 87 percent year-on-year surge, with a notable share of cases using event tickets as bait.
Among the victims is a woman who was cheated out of nearly HK$1 million in a concert ticket fraud, the Police Force said.
During a news briefing earlier this week, police said that overall technology-related crime dipped 0.6 percent to 33,903 cases, with a total losses falling by 6.7 percent to HK$ 5.129 billion last year, but online shopping fraudulent had emerged as a growing threat.
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Some 11,559 online shopping scam cases were reported last year, reflecting a significant increase of 29.2 percent compared to the 8,950 cases in 2023.
Superintendent Baron Chan Shun-ching of the force’s Cyber Security and Technology Crime Bureau attributed the sharp rise of losses to online-shopping scams to 38 high-value cases exceeding HK$1 million, which were often linked to luxury goods, foreign currency exchanges, or cryptocurrency transactions.
About 15 percent of the online shopping scams involved tickets for large events such as concerts, with losses nearing HK$18 million.
Among the cases is a 40-year-old woman who lost nearly HK1 million to scammers after purchasing concert tickets on an instant messaging application.
Initially scammed of HK$300, she was later approached by a fraudster pretending to be an entertainment company employee offering discounted tickets, leading to 256 transfers over one month.
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Police warned that more event ticket scams could happen as the launch of the Kai Tak Sports Park has boosted the city’s capacity to host major events.
Police officers said fraudsters often demand advance payments and then disappear, and urged the public to use reputable platforms for transactions, verify sellers’ identities, and arrange offline meetings if necessary.
Suspicious activities can be reported through the police’s one-stop anti-scam app Scameter+.
Contact the writer at stephyzhang@chinadailyhk.com
