Hong Kong police investigate HK$14.7 million in fraudulent iPhone pre-order transactions
Quick Look
- Hong Kong police are investigating over 700 reports of unauthorized credit card transactions totaling HK$14.7 million linked to fraudulent Apple iPhone pre-orders.
- No arrests have been made in the cases, which are classified as obtaining property by deception.
AI-generated summary
Why It Matters
The reports involve unauthorized credit card charges for Apple iPhone pre-orders. Police have classified the incidents as obtaining property by deception.
Hong Kong police have received reports from more than 700 people regarding unauthorised transactions on credit cards worth HK$14.7 million (US$1.87 million) linked to pre-orders of Apple’s newest iPhones, prompting the force and major banks to launch investigations.
A police spokesman said the force’s e-Report Centre received the reports on Saturday and Sunday from individuals who suspected that their credit cards were fraudulently used for online purchases of smartphones. The largest single case involved as much as HK$114,000.
Following preliminary investigations, the cases have been provisionally classified as “obtaining property by deception”. No arrests have been made so far.
One social media user on the Threads platform said she received a message on Saturday night that she had unauthorised transactions of HK$33,598 from Apple on her HSBC credit card.
“When I called Apple customer service, they hung up on me immediately. What should I do?” she asked.
It took her half an hour to reach an HSBC customer service officer to suspend her credit card, and she subsequently filed a police report.
Open Questions
- How were the credit card details compromised?
- Are the fraudulent orders being fulfilled by Apple?
