Local authorities reported a surge in internet shopping scams for several years. Last year, police handled 2,102 cases, up from 1,562 cases in 2017. Losses also skyrocketed: up 135 per cent from HK$17.8 million in 2017 to HK$41.9 million in 2018. In 2016, there were 1,188 cases that bilked the city’s residents out of HK$12.9 million.

Police said the increase was driven by the growing popularity of online shopping in the city.

Law enforcement sources said it falls to the city’s Cyber Security and Technology Crime Bureau to analyse the cases, identify the fraud tactics and enforce the laws.

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In most cases, according to police, online fraudsters posed as vendors and tried to sell popular items over the internet. Victims realised they were conned when the goods they paid for never arrived, and they the sellers were nowhere to be found.

The scams involved goods ranging from electronics and handbags to mooncake vouchers and concert tickets.

“Sometimes, they claimed the goods were limited edition sneakers and handbags and used this gimmick to attract buyers,” a police source said.

He said police noticed a rise in internet merchandise scams in the run-up to festive seasons like Christmas and Valentine’s Day.

“[Swindlers] also offer to sell discounted mooncake vouchers during the Mid-Autumn Festival,” he said.

But he said some scammers posed as shoppers and used bounced cheques or bogus cashier’s cheques to cheat businesses.

On Saturday, police arrested three Hongkongers – one man and two women – on suspicion of duping three people out of HK$370,000 in an online shopping scam.

The suspects were accused of using fake cashier’s cheques to buy watches and jewellery from the three victims who realised they were conned when the could not cash the cheques.

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Last year, police cracked down on two gangs that posed as buyers and used fake bank cheques to obtain more than HK$20 million worth of luxury cars, whisky and handbags.

Another source said some scammers worked alone while some worked in criminal syndicates. Those arrested by police in the past included students, housewives and the unemployed.

In Hong Kong, obtaining property by deception carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in jail.

The rise in the number of the cases has prompted local police to urge internet users to be cautious when making online purchases or selling goods on the internet.

The police have urged the public to conduct transactions through online trading systems with identity authentication to reduce the chance of being swindled.

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“While selling goods via online platforms, do not believe too readily that the other party has made the payment to you just by referring to the deposit slip or the email the other party provides,” a police spokesman said.

Despite the city’s overall crime rate being on a downward trend in recent years, the number of fraud cases rose 18.1 per cent last year to 8,372.

Among those cases, there were 2,064 reports of social media scams in 2018, up 94 per cent compared with 1,063 in 2017. Financial losses from the 2,064 cases totalled HK$500 million, 2½ times more than in 2017.

Of those social media scams, 596 involved online romance swindlers who bagged HK$450 million. A 66-year-old businesswoman became Hong Kong’s biggest victim of an online romance scam when she was duped out of HK$180 million over four years by an “engineer from Britain”.