Apple should bear responsibility for Hong Kong iPhone card fraud, lawmaker says

A lawmaker in Hong Kong has accused Apple of bearing responsibility for over 700 unauthorized credit card transactions linked to the recent launch of the iPhone 18 Pro series, according to reports. Johnny Ng Kit-chong, an Election Committee sector legislator, made these allegations on a radio program on Monday, describing the incident as "rare" despite the large number of victims and the involvement of a platform operated by a major company such as Apple.

Ng estimated that the total loss would not be significant, as the products had not yet been delivered and banks should have withheld the funds involved. He suggested that hackers may have stolen and stored the credit card details over time, waiting for an opportunity to exploit them once the new smartphone model went on pre-order on Saturday.

Ng also pointed out that Apple might have disabled multi-factor verification for credit card transactions to ensure smooth website operation amidst heavy traffic. This, he said, allowed fraudsters to exploit a loophole by placing orders on a large scale with the stolen credit card numbers, hoping to exploit the situation for profit.

In cases where users placed an order once but later discovered multiple orders had been made, Ng attributed this to glitches in Apple's platform and not to compromised credit card details. He believed that Apple should bear ultimate responsibility for any losses incurred, as the company had not yet delivered the products, and banks should have prevented the transactions if they were proven to be unauthorized.

Hong Kong's major banks have since reassured victims that they would not be held liable for the unauthorized transactions, provided it was established that they were indeed fraudulent.