Woman arrested for allegedly duping 22 residents out of HK$130,000 by offering fake discounted tickets to Hong Kong Disneyland

Police have arrested a 34-year-old woman for allegedly scamming 22 consumers out of HK$130,000 (US$16,560) under the pretence of offering discounted tickets to Hong Kong Disneyland resort, and warned the number of victims could ultimately reach about 400.

The suspect posed as a relative of an executive of an unnamed resort to win the trust of her victims and lure them into buying “discounted” tickets to a theme park, according to the force. The Post has learned the resort in question is Disneyland on Lantau Island.

“In recent scams, the criminals will usually conduct a few successful transactions with victims to win their trust before getting a higher amount of money out of them in later transactions,” said Lau Kwan-ho, senior inspector of Mong Kok district’s crime squad. “I hope residents will be vigilant when shopping online to avoid giving fraudsters a chance.”

In May and June, the woman made posts to an online forum claiming she had annual passes and hotel packages for sale, he said, adding the tickets were offered at prices 15 to 20 per cent lower than usual.

To establish her reputation, the woman conducted several transactions in person with some of the victims without defrauding them, according to police. She allegedly later carried out the transactions online, demanding patrons wire the money to her on the faster payment system (FPS) before disappearing afterwards.

Victims lost between a few thousand Hong Kong dollars to more than HK$40,000, Lau said, adding the total defrauded amount was about HK$130,000.

Police said they had discovered the woman was neither related to any employee of Disneyland nor was she a member of staff at the resort. She was believed to have operated the scams alone, the force added. But the number of victims could reach as high as 400, according to Lau