A local businessman reported to the Judiciary Police (PJ) on Saturday that he had been cheated when ordering facemasks online, PJ spokesman Choi Ian Fai said during a regular press conference on Tuesday.
According to Choi, the victim struck a HK$66,000 deal with a Hong Kong woman for 15,000 facemasks on February 15 through a website called “Carousell”. The woman claimed that the facemasks were for adults and produced in Turkey.
Choi said the woman asked the victim to deposit money into a bank account in Hong Kong. The victim remitted HK$46,000 to the account in Hong Kong in two tranches, on February 20 and 24.
According to Choi, the woman told the victim on February 28 that the shipment of the facemasks from Turkey to Hong Kong had been delayed due to transportation problems. The victim suspected that he had been defrauded and reported the case to the Judiciary Police.
A total of 69 victims – comprising 66 local residents, a mainland woman, a Hong Kong woman and a Singaporean non-resident female worker, aged between 22 and 47 – reported separately to the Judiciary Police (PJ) between February 18 and April 4 that they had been cheated when ordering facemasks, involving a total loss of 2.96 million patacas, Choi pointed out.
