Legal

Group of 13 ticket touts arrested in Hong Kong

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A group of 13 ticket touts have been arrested in Hong Kong after police received 42 reports from citizens who had been scammed out of HK$800,000 (£82,600/$102,000/€98,500).

The perpetrators consist of seven men and six women between the ages of 19 and 56.

They allegedly disguised themselves as scalpers online and claimed that they were selling tickets for events including the Clockenflap festival and Andy Lau Tak-wah concerts.

The individuals instructed their victims to transfer them money to an account in exchange for a ticket before immediately blocking contact with them after receiving the payment.

It is claimed that one victim lost HK$640,000 after trying to book 544 tickets for the final Andy Lau show at the Hong Kong Coliseum on January 10.

Police also discovered that some of the bank accounts that money had been transferred into had been used for money laundering related to other cases totalling HK$22m.

Authorities say that the group is suspected of conspiracy to defraud, obtaining property by deception, and money laundering.

They are all currently being detained for further investigation.

Police have also reminded citizens to only purchase event tickets through official channels in order to minimise the likelihood of being scammed.

Tickets for the Andy Lau Tak-wah concerts earlier this month in his home Hong Kong were greatly sought after which led to high numbers of ticket tout cases.

One woman was arrested two weeks ago shortly after a group of five met the same consequence.

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