On March 26th, it was reported that a widespread fraud operation involving event ticketing has been discovered in Hong Kong. Upon speaking to the victims, the local media has discovered that one of the events involved is CNBLUE member Yonghwa’s solo concert, which was held on March 19th.
Under the fraud scheme, individuals would post an ad for the selling of tickets to different events held in the city – either at a discount or even at a higher-than-regular price for popular events.
In some instances, the victims paid the individuals using bank transfer and never received the tickets. In other instances, the individuals hired young students, who were unaware of the fraud scheme, to conduct the transactions in person. The victims later found out the tickets were fake, expired, or used.
Many of the victims were scammed in buying concert tickets. In particular, it was reported that Yonghwa’s solo concert was one of the events involved, as the popular performance was sold out and thus gave the individuals an opportunity to easily find fans who were desperate for a ticket.
It is believed that the fraud scheme involved close to 100 victims, with many more unreported cases as the victims are young and reluctant to go to the police out of fear.
The individuals involved in the fraud scheme could face up to a maximum sentence of 14 years and a maximum fine of $5 million HKD (approximately $640,000 USD).
Source: Sing Tao
