Police cancel all 1,503 fraudulent iPhone orders
AM730 · 3 SOURCESabout 1 hour ago4 MIN
Summary
Hong Kong Police Commissioner Joe Chow Yat-ming (周一鳴) said on September 29 that police had received 1,503 reports over fraudulent purchases of the latest iPhone 18 Pro using stolen credit card details, involving more than HK$30 million. He said all related transactions had been cancelled, leaving cardholders, banks and Apple without losses, while investigators continue to trace the syndicate behind the scheme.
Key Points
- Chow disclosed the latest case update while attending a Kowloon City District Council meeting on September 29.
- Police said Apple had disabled e-commerce protection measures in its online sales process and exempted transaction verification, creating an opening for fraudsters to place large numbers of orders with illegally obtained card data.
- Investigators found suspects used internet circumvention tools, supplied false or incomplete recipient details, then waited for failed delivery attempts before redirecting parcels by email to public locations for collection by runners.
- Police have asked Apple to review its transaction procedures before another new handset goes on pre-sale in mid-October, to prevent a repeat.
- Separately, Chow said Hong Kong recorded 59,213 crimes from January to August, up 0.2% year on year, including 29,670 fraud cases, up 4.5%, with fraud making up half of all crime for the first time.
Why It Matters
The case has drawn attention to how online retail verification settings can affect payment security at scale, especially during high-demand product launches. It also comes as police warn that fraud is taking up a growing share of Hong Kong crime, with phone scams overtaking online shopping scams as the most serious category this year.