Money lost to online shopping scams rises by 87% in Hong Kong to HK$356 million
Woman swindled out of nearly HK$1 million in concert ticket fraud among 11,559 online scam cases recorded last year
The amount of money lost by Hongkongers in online shopping scams rose by 87 per cent to HK$356 million (US$45 million) in 2024, with a woman who was cheated out of nearly HK$1 million in fraudulent concert ticket sales among cases.
Police recorded 11,559 online shopping fraud cases last year, marking a 29.2 per cent rise from 8,950 in 2023, with losses also surging from HK$191 million.
Superintendent Baron Chan Shun-ching of the force’s cybersecurity and technology crime bureau said the occurrence of 38 cases with losses exceeding HK$1 million each last year had contributed to the 87 per cent surge.
“Most cases involving large amounts of losses usually involve shopping for luxury products, exchange for foreign currency or cryptocurrency,” Chan said.
In 2023, the force recorded 16 major cases of online shopping fraud involving losses of over HK$1 million.
Despite an overall decrease in cyber fraud, with the number of cases dropping by 0.6 per cent year on year to 33,903 and monetary losses falling by 6.7 per cent to HK$5.129 billion, there was a surge in online shopping scams.