Mooncake voucher scam costs seller over HK$250,000
SingTao · 5 SOURCES1 day ago2 MIN
Summary
Ahead of the Mid-Autumn Festival on Friday, September 25, police said mooncake voucher scams have begun appearing online, including posts claiming to give away large numbers of vouchers for free. In one reported case, a local woman trying to sell mooncake vouchers online was directed to a fake trading platform by a scammer. Posing as customer service staff, fraudsters told her to transfer money to three unknown personal bank accounts for “verification” and promised the funds would be fully refunded later, but she ultimately lost more than HK$250,000. Police said they received more than 250 online shopping fraud reports in the past week, with total losses of more than HK$5 million.
Key Points
- The victim was a local woman who had been trying to sell mooncake vouchers online when scammers approached her through the supposed transaction process.
- The fraudsters sent her a link to a bogus trading platform, where fake customer service staff took over the deception.
- She was instructed to transfer funds to three unknown personal bank accounts as account verification, with a promise of a full refund afterward.
- Instead of receiving any refund, the woman lost more than HK$250,000 in the scam, according to police accounts released on September 18.
- Police urged the public to verify online shops, review counterparties’ account histories, avoid unknown links or platforms, and treat transfer “verification” demands as suspicious.
Why It Matters
Seasonal shopping tied to Mid-Autumn Festival is giving fraudsters new angles to target both buyers and sellers, not only people looking for bargains. The police warning suggests ordinary peer-to-peer transactions can quickly turn into large losses when victims are pushed onto fake platforms or asked to send money for so-called verification.