Hong Kong police logged 130 reports of suspected card misuse in iPhone Duo preorders involving about HK$5 million by 9 a.m. Hong Kong time on Oct. 19 (9 p.m. ET Sunday), the South China Morning Post reported.
The HK$5 million is the amount involved in the reports, not a confirmed loss figure. The Cyber Security and Technology Crime Bureau is handling the probe; police have provisionally treated the incidents as obtaining property by deception.
Police have repeatedly asked Apple to activate 3D Secure, an online payment check that helps authenticate a cardholder. They said the feature was inactive when Duo preorders opened. Apple said it would review Duo orders before processing them and cancel purchases it identified as fraudulent.
The reports follow a separate wave involving the iPhone 18 Pro series, whose preorders began Sept. 12. Police said they received 1,572 reports of suspicious card transactions involving the series, totaling more than HK$31 million. That investigation remains ongoing.
Apple opened Hong Kong orders Oct. 16, the same day it began U.S. preorders for the iPhone Duo. The phone is scheduled to become available in Hong Kong on Oct. 23.
