Police have received more than 1,700 reports of suspected credit-card fraud cases linked to Apple's recent iPhone pre-sales in September and October.

At a Southern District Council meeting on Monday, Police Commissioner Joe Chow said the force received 1,589 reports of unauthorised credit card transactions involving the purchase of various Apple iPhone 18 models.

Pre-orders for the smartphone began on September 12 in Hong Kong.

Another 138 reports were filed in October, when the iPhone Duo began accepting orders.

According to Chow, Apple opted against extra security measures for credit card transactions. An example would be the "3D Secure" protocol, which asks customers to enter a one-time password or verify their identity on the bank's mobile app.

"During this period, we contacted Apple, credit card companies and banks, and cancelled all problematic purchase records. As a result, the victims did not suffer any losses," Chow said.

The police chief said officers had reached out to Apple on multiple occasions to express hope that the company would implement effective security measures and strengthen verification in future product launches.

Chow also briefed district councillors on Hong Kong's law-and-order situation.

He said fraud remained the dominant crime category, with 34,679 cases in the first nine months of the year, making up 51 percent of all crimes.

Victims reported losses of HK$6.02 billion, a 6.7 per cent increase year on year.

Phone scams were now the most common type of fraud, followed by online shopping deception.



Edited by Raymond Yeung