Apple did not respond to the police's comments when it responded to inquiries yesterday. It reiterated that all iPhone Duo orders will be reviewed before processing, and it is identifying submitted transactions as soon as possible and will cancel any fraudulent transactions.
Apple opened pre-orders for its first foldable iPhone Duo last night, priced at 17,499 to 27,999 yuan depending on storage space. Since the opening of pre-orders, netizens have reported on social platforms that they have received text message notifications on their mobile phones. They have made transactions in the Apple online store without pre-ordering a mobile phone, and their credit cards have been deducted. Some people have also reserved a mobile phone but have been debited repeatedly.
Senior Inspector Lu Zhengang of the Police Cyber Security and Technology Crime Investigation Bureau said that since the iPhone 18 Pro incident last month, the police, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and the banking industry have all taken it very seriously. The police have met with Apple’s management to discuss all feasible preventive measures. Apple said it has taken some measures, including reviewing and adjusting internal fraud risk models and increasing monitoring of transactions.
Lu said that the police have repeatedly recommended to Apple to enable 3DS as soon as possible. Before credit card transactions, the card-issuing bank will require the cardholder to perform additional verification, such as entering a one-time password or confirming through the bank's mobile app. However, Apple did not enable 3DS when it opened iPhone Duo pre-orders the night before. It is reported that Apple told the police that it did not use 3DS because it wanted to prioritize customer experience. In addition to 3DS, the police also suggested that Apple block suspicious IP addresses or order information, and raise the threshold of the original fraud risk blocking measures.
Lu also said that the police are highly concerned about Apple's failure to actively assume corporate responsibility, allowing criminals to take advantage of it, and the inconvenience caused to citizens by related suspicious transactions; last time Apple had an iPhone 18 Pro pre-order fraud incident due to the same reason, and it happened again this time, which is extremely regrettable.
When asked whether Apple was criminally responsible for not heeding the advice and turning on 3DS certification, Lu said that this was Apple's business consideration. There is no law in Hong Kong that requires merchants to use it. At present, the police's priority is to minimize public losses and will continue to discuss with Apple in the future. He said 3DS is a more effective measure and welcomes Apple to propose other methods.
This case is temporarily classified as "obtaining property by deception" and will be handed over to the Cyber Security and Technology Crime Bureau for follow-up. Lu said the police will keep in contact with Apple and cancel all suspicious transactions as soon as possible to ensure that citizens will not suffer losses. He said whether the two incidents involve the same criminal group is one of the directions of investigation. The last case is still under investigation because it involved a large amount of transaction data. So far, 1,572 reports have been received, involving 31 million yuan, and no one has been arrested yet. It is reported that the police are also studying whether the stolen credit cards have common characteristics or whether the victims have shopped in the same specific place. No obvious clues have been found yet.
The police remind citizens that if they find suspicious transactions on their credit cards, they should immediately notify the card-issuing bank, Apple and the police so that relevant parties can handle it in a timely manner to avoid losses.
HSBC and Hang Seng Bank responded yesterday that if relevant customers have used their credit cards reasonably and prudently, they will assist in completing the refund. HSBC stated that customers are not responsible for repeated transactions, and the bank will identify and cancel the transactions; for unauthorized transactions, customers can suspend their credit cards through the bank App or call the customer service hotline. Hang Seng said that if customers find any suspicious transactions, they can freeze their credit cards through the bank's App. Bank of China stated that all customers are protected by the refund mechanism. Customers are not responsible for all credit card transactions that are verified to be unauthorized. If unauthorized transactions occur, they should log in to mobile banking to lock their cards as soon as possible.
