HK and Shenzhen police smash cross-border fake concert ticket ring
發佈日期: 2025-08-10 20:02
TVB News
Hong Kong police, working with Shenzhen authorities, have cracked down on a cross-border criminal group which allegedly produced and sold counterfeit concert and event tickets.
Twelve suspects have been arrested and more than 400 counterfeit tickets seized in coordinated raids on both sides of the border.
Fifty-four high-quality fake concert tickets worth over 90,000 dollars were seized in the operation in Hong Kong.
They include those for sold-out shows of K-pop star G-dragon at AsiaWorld-Expo and international football friendlies at the Kai Tak Sports Park.
The counterfeit tickets reportedly came with mark-ups ranging from 1,000 to 5,000 dollars above face value.
To King-sang, police chief inspector of Regional Public Order Event Investigation Team of Kowloon East Regional Headquarters, says scammers preyed on fans' fear of missing out, peddling bogus tickets via social platforms with labels such as "internal tickets," "internal sale" or "last-minute transfer."
The operation began last Tuesday. Mainland police raided a Shenzhen apartment, where they arrested three Hong Kong men and a mainland man, including the alleged ringleader from Hong Kong who has resided in the mainland for a long time.
Hong Kong officers, meanwhile, rounded up eight suspects -- seven men and a woman.
They allegedly include the syndicate's core members, couriers and puppet account holders tied to at least 16 fraud cases involving some 100,000 dollars in losses. Also seized in the ring's mainland factory were printing machines, invisible ink, 412 semi-finished products and 24 high-quality imitation tickets worth nearly 40,000 dollars.
Wan King-hang, superintendent of Crime Kowloon East Regional Headquarters, notes that the fakes had subtle giveaways.
The English terms of sale printed behind the ticket have the words "ofidentity" appeared as a single word.
In Chinese, all punctuation from the second to the tenth points had been placed too low on the line.
With rising fraud cases, the police have called on the public to purchase tickets through official channels to reduce the risk of being deceived.
