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Danny Mok

A Hong Kong car owner has lost HK$500,000 (US$63,800) to scammers posing as petrol company staff who exploited surging fuel prices by offering bogus top-up deals for membership cards, police have said.
The victim received unsolicited WhatsApp messages from fraudsters claiming to represent a fuel company, according to a post on the force’s CyberDefender Facebook page on Wednesday.
The scammers promised discounts through prepaid petrol cards and lured the victim into making immediate purchases.
Global oil prices have soared amid the ongoing Middle East conflict, and Hong Kong remains one of the world’s most expensive fuel markets.
Police said the victim did not suspect foul play because he had previously used discount cards from other fuel firms.
The car owner also believed the scammers’ claim that buying more cards would yield higher discounts.
Over a six-week period, the victim made more than 10 transfers to multiple unknown personal bank accounts.
When the promised physical cards failed to arrive and the fraudsters demanded “personal income tax” payments, the victim realised he had been deceived. By then, he had lost more than HK$500,000.

Meanwhile, police said they had received more than 200 online shopping scam reports in the past week alone, with total losses exceeding HK$13 million.
Officers reminded the public to contact customer service only through official channels, ignore unsolicited messages, and be wary of offers that appear too good to be true or involve repeated transfers in a short period.
Police also urged the public not to disclose sensitive personal data or security codes to anyone claiming to be staff members and to terminate transactions immediately if anything seemed suspicious.


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Hong Kong car owner loses HK$500,000 in fuel membership card scam

The scammers promised discounts through prepaid petrol cards and lured the victim into making immediate purchases, police say. Photo: Sam Tsang

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News

Hong Kong

Law and Crime

Fraudsters exploit surging fuel prices by offering bogus prepaid petrol card deals, police say


Fraudsters exploit surging fuel prices by offering bogus prepaid petrol card deals, police say.


Hong Kong car owner loses HK$500,000 in fuel membership card scam

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Fraudsters exploit surging fuel prices by offering bogus prepaid petrol card deals, police say

Fraudsters exploit surging fuel prices by offering bogus prepaid petrol card deals, police say