Appeal for victims of possible fraud cases to come forward

Police today (July 19) urged members of the public and companies that might consider having fallen prey to a possible fraud being practised on companies in Hong Kong to come forward.

In view of the upsurge of complaints received in connection with a suspected fraud case with similar modus operandi, the Police's Commercial Crime Bureau (CCB)appealed to the members of the public, in particular small and medium enterprises, to pay special attention to any terms and conditions stated on any document and reply slip even they do not appear to be an agreement with binding effect prior to signing.

The modus operandi of the suspected fraud case is that a letter was sent to victim companies inviting them to verify and update their companies' details for inclusion in a publication akin to the yellow pages. However, the letter also contained a paragraph printed with smaller letters outlining the terms and conditions, which require them to pay for subscribing advertising service.

The case revealed that without going through the terms and conditions in details, the victims signed the reply slip, endorsed with a company chop and returned the slips by post or fax. They later found themselves having entered into an agreement with the letter originating company and were were liable to make payment from ten to some ten thousands dollars.

Police appealed to the public to be aware of such possible fraud case and anyone who has come across such similar suspected fraud case are advised to make a report to CCB hotline at 2860 5012.


Police Report No. 4
Issued by PPRB

End/Thursday, July 19, 2007