Hong Kong police arrest 10 for selling fake tickets to BigBang and other concerts

Ten people have been arrested for selling counterfeit concert tickets to shows in Hong Kong, including concerts by Korean boy band BigBang, swindling victims out of at least HK$360,000 (US$46,150) through online ticket scams and fake storefronts.

Police said on Thursday that the counterfeits were almost identical to genuine tickets and hard to spot as fakes with the naked eye, but were made of rougher paper, had duller printing and lacked the genuine tickets’ laser-emitting corner labels.

In an operation code-named “Immensewave” on Tuesday and Wednesday that targeted online ticket scams and counterfeit concert tickets, police arrested six men and four women, all locals aged 18 to 46, on suspicion of fraud and money laundering.

Terry Wan King-hang, the Sau Mau Ping assistant district commander of crime, said accounts were used by the fraudsters to launder more than HK$81 million in illicit proceeds, of which HK$360,000 was from the ticket scam, and were linked to at least 12 other fraud cases.

“Apart from traditional online shopping scams, our cyber patrols found fraudsters using new tactics targeting coming concerts,” Wan said.

“They set up professional-looking pages, posting photos of large ticket stacks, and even stole real shop addresses to appear credible, luring victims into transferring money into designated accounts.”

According to police, the fraudsters set up social media pages listing real or fictitious shop addresses to pose as legitimate businesses, posting photos of tickets advertised at their “original price” or as surplus “company complimentary tickets”.

Some victims were lured into meeting members of the syndicate at an MTR station, where a scammer performed fake “ticket-checking” gestures before taking cash or accepting a bank transfer and vanishing.

Others were sent external links to registration forms routed through overseas servers that harvested personal data and collected deposits.

Victims were then pressured into repeated payments as the scammers claimed there were system errors or frozen orders, before blocking and deleting the victims’ accounts.

The gang also posed as diehard fans offering free or discounted merchandise, defrauding interested buyers through fake courier links.

Most of the fake ticket adverts displayed by police were for BigBang concerts and had been posted on social media platforms including Meta Platforms-owned Threads and Alibaba-owned second-hand marketplace Goofish.

BigBang is scheduled to perform in Hong Kong on the local leg of their world tour, playing at Kai Tak Stadium on November 13, 14, 15 and 17, with ticket prices from HK$699 to HK$3,099.

Wan warned the public to buy tickets only through official channels or the designated platforms of concert organisers.

“Do not trust claimed shop addresses or photos of ticket stacks, never click unknown links or enter personal data, and beware demands for deposits before seeing goods,” he said.

Wan also cautioned that renting, lending or selling bank or payment accounts to receive criminal proceeds amounted to money laundering, which is punishable by up to 14 years’ imprisonment and a HK$5 million fine.