Octopus card users with the automatic add-value service be warned: if you lose your card you could be HK$1,000 poorer in just six hours.
The Consumer Council yesterday demanded that Octopus Cards speed up its response to reports of lost cards.
As the service now stands, users of personalised Octopus cards are liable for all value added automatically to cards in the six hours after they report the cards missing. They are also held liable for any amounts deducted from the card's balance during that six hours.
Assuming a card user has a balance of HK$499 and has the automatic add-value service with a limit of HK$500, they could lose as much as HK$1,000, including the handling fee, if someone else shops with the card.
To limit their financial loss, the watchdog recommended cardholders report a lost card as soon as they became aware it was missing.
'Cardholders should report their loss to the Octopus operator directly,' the council's Philip Leung Kwong-hon said. 'They should not go to the credit card-issuing bank, as the added-value feature will not be disabled even after the loss is reported to the credit card company.'
Under existing policy, users can automatically add HK$250 or HK$500 to their cards every day.