Fifty-seven Hongkongers fell victim to concert ticket scams in a single week, with losses totalling HK$420,000 (US$53,786), police have warned.
The spate of swindles prompted the force on Friday to remind residents to exercise caution while shopping using online platforms and urged the public to purchase tickets through official channels.
“If you choose to buy from non-official sources, please be cautious and verify the authenticity of the sellers and the tickets,” police said on their CyberDefender Facebook page.
The force warned that with several Korean idol groups and local pop singers set to hold concerts in the city during the summer holiday, scammers were taking advantage of fans’ eagerness and falsely claiming on social media platforms and auction websites that they had “insider access” to tickets.
“They lure fans who are unable to purchase tickets into buying from them,” police said. “Once they receive the money, they are unreachable.”
Police said more than HK$420,000 was lost in the 57 cases related to the purchase of concert tickets last week.
The victims fell prey to the scams after they responded to posts left by fraudsters on various social media platforms, the force added.
Out of the 57 reports, police said 18 cases occurred on Carousell, 16 on Instagram and 12 on Facebook.
The shoppers realised they were conned when they never received the tickets and the supposed sellers were unreachable.
Police advised the public to use the force’s “Scameter” search engine, accessible through the CyberDefender website, to check for suspicious or fraudulent schemes.
The search engine has information to help users identify suspicious web addresses, emails, platform usernames, bank accounts, mobile phone numbers and IP addresses.
Official figures found that police handled 2,384 cases of different types of e-shopping swindles with financial losses totalling HK$68.7 million between January and March of this year.
There were 8,950 cases of online shopping fraud last year, a 2 per cent increase from 8,735 incidents logged in 2022.
But the amount lost rose by 157 per cent to HK$190.5 million in 2023 from HK$74.1 million the year before.
In Hong Kong, obtaining property by deception carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in jail.
