The release of Apple’s new iPhone 18 Pro in Hong Kong has spurred over 1,500 cases of bad actors buying the devices using fake credit cards. Now cops there are turning to Apple for help.
Local news site The Standard reports Commissioner of Police Joe Chow Yat-ming recently told a Kowloon City district council meeting that police had received reports of 1,503 instances of iPhone 18 Pro card fraud reports worth over HK$30 million ($3.82 million US). All of these transactions have been canceled, meaning there had been no monetary losses for Apple, their customers, or banks.
Chow that Apple’s online security and verification did not catch the fraudulent charges, due to what he called an Apple online store “loophole.”
“This meant that one-time passwords or mobile app verification were not required,” Chow said, “allowing fraudsters to place large orders using illegally obtained credit card information.”
Cops says Apple’s identity and payment verification requirements were somehow evaded for the online purchases. VPNs were used to mask the bad actors’ real IP addresses, and they provided false or incomplete addresses. Apple would email them to clear up the delivery address “problem,” the crooks would specify a public location.
Hong Kong police have contacted Apple, and have requested that the company review its transaction processes to better block cases of fraud like these in the future. Commissioner Chows says he expects to see another wave of fraudulent schemes when Apple’s iPhone Duo is released in October.
Apple not yet commented on the issue.