Hong Kong woman fears identity theft after winning HSBC banknote draw that she didn't enter
Woman shocked to learn that she had won the right to buy sought-after HK$150 banknotes - even though she did not make an application
A housewife fears she and her husband are the victims of identity theft after HSBC told her she was one of the lucky winners of a hugely popular draw for commemorative banknotes - even though she did not apply.
The woman received a confirmation letter from the bank this week saying her application had been successful and she had been allocated four of the notes, for which collectors are willing to pay thousands of dollars.
This led her to discover her personal information had been used to apply for the banknotes, printed to mark HSBC's 150th anniversary and oversubscribed by up to 64 times.
She said her husband, who did not submit an application either, experienced the same problem. "A short telephone message had been sent to my husband saying his application [for the banknotes] was unsuccessful," the mother of two said. "He thought it was a junk message and did not take it seriously or bother to check."
When her husband contacted the bank on Tuesday, however, he was told his name, identity card number, home address and phone number had been used to apply for the banknotes over the internet.
"The bank also told my husband that its security department had received several similar complaints and he was advised to report the case to police," said the woman, who does not want to be named.
She checked with HSBC on Thursday and was told the confirmation letter was issued by the bank and was genuine. The bank promised it would look into the matter and she is now waiting for a reply.
The woman, who lives in Eastern district, was allocated three single banknotes that are being sold for HK$380 each and one 3-in-1 uncut banknote - a sheet printed with three HK$150 notes - costing HK$1,380. The notes will not be ready for collection until June, but speculators are already offering banknotes on the e-commerce website Taobao.
Taobao retailers are charging up to 1,998 yuan (HK$2,529) for a single note, 5,000 yuan for a 3-in-1 uncut note and 60,000 yuan for a 35-in-1 uncut note that originally cost HK$23,880.
A police source said it was possible criminals had stolen letters from mailboxes in old buildings with lax security and used tenants' personal information to apply for banknotes.
"If their applications are successful, they will return to the targeted buildings, steal the bank's confirmation letters and then take them to collect the notes," the source said, adding that bogus identification documents might be used to collect notes.
However, he doubted anyone would go to such lengths and risk arrest for the sake of making a few thousand dollars.
The source said police would look into the matter and check whether there were similar cases of identity theft.
The bank announced the release of the commemorative banknotes to celebrate its 150th anniversary last month, prompting queues for application forms to buy sets.
Two million of the HK$150 notes were made available, and people were able to apply for a maximum of three single notes, plus one set of 3-in-1 uncut notes and one set of 35-in-1 uncut notes. The application period ended last month. The profits will go to charity.
