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Do Hong Kong banks have to refund you if you have fallen victim to a financial scam?

Posted on by Vaseline
Do Hong Kong banks have to refund you if you have fallen victim to a financial scam?

It was a “send from heaven” for Pishu Shamdasani when he read about the Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s (HKMA) plan to the city’s banks to share scam-related losses.

Shamdasani, an 82-year-old small business owner, lost €56,940 (US$62,499) to a scammer posing as a supplier in the Netherlands. He subsequently lost all his pending orders – worth more than US$1.2 million – as well as his rental house in Hung Hom. Shamdasani and his wife had to move to a friend’s house until they could find a safe and suitable flat they could afford.

“We have almost no income, no business, no cash flow,” said Shamdasani, who has lived in Hong Kong for more than 40 years and runs a trading company that deals in branded perfumes, watches and copper products. “It’s a terrible blow for me, especially at my age.”

Since he found out he had been scammed at the end of April, he asked his bank: HSBC – to stop the six transfers he had sent to the scammer, but the money was long gone. On May 8, he reported the matter to the Hong Kong police. The case number is all he has to show about the past five months of waiting.

“HSBC told me I will hear from the police. They said, ‘From now on, you will only contact the Hong Kong police because they have the case,'” he said.

A spokesperson for HSBC told the Post that the bank does not comment or provide information about its customers.

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