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Harvey Kong

A Hong Kong resident has lost more than HK$4 million (US$512,148) to scammers after trying to sell a rug for HK$100 on online marketplace Carousell, according to police.
The force also said on Monday that more than 110 cases of online shopping scams linked to the trading platform took place between January 24 and 30, with the total amount of money involved exceeding HK$10 million.
The victim who listed the rug for sale on Carousell for HK$100 was contacted by a scammer posing as an interested buyer.
The victim was later sent a payment link via WhatsApp and entered relevant bank account details.


“A fake Carousell staff member contacted the victim via WhatsApp, claiming there were issues with their account that caused the payment to fail,” police said in a post on their CyberDefender Facebook page.
“The victim was then asked multiple times to provide a ‘transaction verification one-time password’ to assist with ‘account verification’.
“The scammers subsequently made more than 60 transfers to a personal bank account within a short period, involving more than HK$4 million in total. The victim only realised it was a scam after bank staff called to verify the transactions.”
Police said the victim later confronted the scammer, who promised to refund the money. But a cheque deposited by the scammer the next day also failed to clear and the victim did not receive any funds.
In the same post, the force noted that among the more than 110 reports of online shopping scams, three involved people posing as “fake Carousell staff”.
Authorities advised the public to take several precautions when using online second-hand marketplaces, including meeting sellers in person whenever possible, using Carousell’s official payment system and avoiding submitting personal information to unknown websites or apps.
In a reply to South China Morning Post queries, Carousell said that the platform remained dedicated to refining its security measures while keeping its community informed.
A company spokesman said the platform had been bringing in measures such as fraud detection tools, blocking harmful content, identifying suspicious accounts, providing safe transaction methods and educating users.
The platform said that to target phishing scams, it also blocked users from sending website links and email addresses via chat.
“We have observed a recent rise in sophisticated phishing activity. Scammers are increasingly finding ways to circumvent platform protections by tricking victims into moving the conversation or transaction off-platform (e.g., to another chat app or email) to bypass our security measures,” he said.
“This is the scam pattern observed in the recent wave, where the scammer moves the conversation to WhatsApp and then sends a fake payment link.”
The platform said in the coming weeks, it would release stronger defences against multiple account creation to further close down opportunities for bad actors.
“It is critical for the public to know that Carousell Support will never reach out to users on third-party messaging apps, and will never email sellers or buyers to request 2FA codes, passwords or banking details to ‘confirm’ a transaction or release payment,” he said.
Two-factor authentication, or 2FA, requires users to verify their identity using two separate methods before gaining access.


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Crime in Hong Kong

Hongkonger scammed out of HK$4 million trying to sell HK$100 rug on Carousell

More than 110 cases of online shopping scams linked to Carousell took place between January 24 and 30, according to police. Photo: Handout

Hong Kong police arrest hundreds in HK$620 million fraud, money-laundering crackdown

Police seized about HK$620 million in suspected criminal proceeds. Photo: Jelly Tse

Police display items seized in a series of operations targeting deception and money laundering. Photo: Jelly Tse

Hong Kong road accident scam reports double to over 70 in a week: Chris Tang

Police had appealed to the public to report suspected traffic scams. Photo: Eugene Lee

Police say the suspected scams involved a minor bump or even no collision, with the largest claim exceeding HK$800,000. Photo: Getty Images

News

Hong Kong

Law and Crime

Police say the scammer promised to return the money, but the victim received nothing


Police say the scammer promised to return the money, but the victim received nothing.


Hongkonger scammed out of HK$4 million trying to sell HK$100 rug on Carousell

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Police say the scammer promised to return the money, but the victim received nothing

Police say the scammer promised to return the money, but the victim received nothing