Online shopping scams

Online shopping platforms are formed with increasingly convenient shopping and payment flow in recent years. The online shopping business is thriving, and the number of related fraudulent cases have kept rising.

Fraudsters may pose as sellers, and offer goods at bargain prices to attract buyers for purchase. Nevertheless, they generally refuse to accept payment in person, instead requiring buyers to transfer the money to designated account first before they will ship the goods, and break all contact with buyers finally. Fraudsters may also pose as buyers, and provide fake ATM receipts or falsified screenshots of online banking transfers as proof of payment, or provide buyers with a cheque which is subsequently refused by the receiving bank, to convince sellers to send them the goods.

To safeguard your interests, please consider adopting the below measures when you shop online:

• Only engage in transactions with reputable, well known or trusted merchants
• Verify the identity of the buyer or seller and check the transacting party’s previous record of online transactions, credit rating and online transaction evaluation ratings or reviews for assessing counterparty reliability
• Always try to buy goods through official sales channels
• Fully understand shipping and refund terms before engaging in any transaction
• Avoid making any large purchases for your first transaction with a seller
• Keep transaction receipt as a record of your transaction
• Do not just rely on an ATM receipt or screenshot of the online bank transfer record as proof of payment to assure completion of payment
• Ensure both account ledger balance and available balance have been updated if the buyer makes payment by cheque
• Always be alert. Protect your personal banking information including credit card number securely and do not disclose it to anyone
• Never share your banking passwords, including one-time passwords (OTP) sent to your mobile phone or provided by a security device with any person in online shopping process
• Disable notification previews on your mobile device(s) to make sure OTP undisclosed under lock screen
• Make sure you understand the usage and purpose of an OTP before entering OTP that has been sent to your mobile phone
• Browse our Security Information Centre regularly for more tips on online security
• Report your concerns immediately to the Hong Kong Police if you are suspicious of any transactions

Hang Seng Bank cares about online shopping security. We will send SMS / email to your mobile phone number / email address in our record for certain card and banking transactions. Please call our 24-hour Customer Service Hotline on the back of your credit card if you have any enquiries.

Customers may visit the official website of the Anti-Fraud Coordination Centre for more online shopping fraud warnings and advice.