5 women arrested after Hong Kong police break up alleged HK$2.2 million ticket scalping scam
- Police allege scam gang offered tickets for top acts such as Mirror, Jacky Cheung and pop duo Twins, as well as controversial Inter Miami football match
- Biggest single transaction was HK$670,000 spent on tickets for Mirror concert in January
Five Hong Kong women have been arrested after police broke up an alleged HK$2.2 million (US$281,317) scam involving what were claimed to be tickets for sold-out events such as a concert by boy band Mirror and the Inter Miami football match where legend Lionel Messi controversially failed to play.
The biggest single transaction involved HK$670,000 spent on tickets for a Mirror concert in January.
So Sin-yi, an inspector in the Hong Kong police Yau Tsim district investigative team, on Sunday revealed that the five, aged between 29 to 40, had tricked 153 victims into paying for a total of 1,900 tickets between August and December last year, when only about 200 tickets were supplied to customers.
“Even though some [ticket] selling activities aren’t regulated [ …] Sellers should also pay attention to their language used in marketing, as they could be liable for criminal charges if any element of fraud is found,” So warned.
The fraud was discovered last month after three women, who were later arrested, complained to police that they had been scammed by what was said to be a businesswoman who claimed that she could contact concert organisers for tickets for resale at their marked prices with just a small handling fee.
Police said the three women’s initial transactions with the alleged businesswoman had been successful and they set up their own WhatsApp group last March to resell tickets obtained from the businesswoman.
But the group – called “The largest ticket buying platform in Hong Kong” and which attracted more than 100 members within two months – started to fail to supply customers.
The bogus ticket-selling platform offered tickets for a variety of events, including concerts by singers Jacky Cheung Hok-yau, pop duo Twins, as well as the Inter Miami match against a Hong Kong select.
Police investigations into the women’s complaints found the businesswoman had spent half the cash she was given by the three women to service personal debt and company expenses. The other half was used to buy tickets for resale, rather than from event organisers.
But as police officers combed through messages in the WhatsApp group, they found out that the three women who had reported the case had witheld information about their involvement with the scam.
“The trio had claimed that they could contact concert organisers and said they would offer full refunds if the tickets could not be bought, tricking victims in the process,” So said.
“They had also profited from ticket sales with a small fee.”
So added the three women had charged a HK$10 handling fee for each ticket.
The investigation also found that the three women did not hand over all the money they took in to the businesswoman.
The businesswoman was given about HK$2 million by the trio between August to December last year.
“She was just buying scalped tickets to maintain the victims’ trust in order to continue her deception,” So said.
The businesswoman was arrested last month and the three who set up the WhatsApp account were taken into custody on Friday for alleged fraud. One of the trio is also alleged to have used the account to launder money.
The money laundering allegation is related to a woman who was discovered to have transferred a large sum of money to a relative days before the scam was shut down by police. The relative was also taken into custody.
So said the force believed that cash belonging to victims could be included in the transferred sum.
Police believe the transfer could have been money laundering in a bid to evade possible legal consequences for the woman who shifted the cash.
So said the four women had said they worked as clerks or accounting professionals.
