A 25-year-old Hong Kong man was scammed out of HK$4,900 (20,000 baht) when trying to buy two tickets for Blackpink’s pair of concerts in the city next year, as police received 200 reports related to online shopping scams in the past week.
The victims in those cases were cheated out of HK$5.5 million in total, according to the force’s CyberDefender anti-scam Facebook page that posted an advisory on Saturday warning residents to be vigilant when making purchases online.
Of the recent reports, 14 were linked to Threads, with 10 cases related to concert tickets, the force said.
It cited one case in which a 25-year-old man fell victim to a scam while trying to buy tickets for Blackpink’s concerts at Kai Tak Stadium next year.
“[He] saw someone selling two Blackpink concert tickets on Threads and contacted the person through an associated Instagram account. The victim did not hesitate to transfer HK$4,900 to the other party’s account via FPS in exchange for a dynamic QR code for the concert’s e-tickets,” police said.
The force asked online shoppers to check the seller’s account information including the date the account was created and comments posted by users, meeting in person to carry out the transaction when possible and calling off the deal if any doubts arise.
Blackpink’s two scheduled concerts at the stadium next January will mark the finale of the K-pop group’s world tour. Tickets went on general sale last week and were snapped up in a little more than 90 minutes.
The four-member girl group, comprising Jennie, Jisoo, Lisa and Rose, last appeared in the city for three sold-out shows at AsiaWorld-Expo in 2023.
