Watchdog warns of money-changer scam that leaves customers short-changed
Staff verbally quote top exchange rates but sums handed over don't add up, warns Consumer Council after complaints double
A foreign-exchange scam has emerged in the city, with crooked money-changers verbally quoting one rate to customers before using a less favourable rate to calculate the actual sum paid over, the Consumer Council has warned.
The ploy appears to take advantage of the complicated sums involved that often leave customers having to take the exchange's figures on trust.
The number of complaints to the council about money changers doubled to 97 last year, from 49 in 2012. Most of the complaints concerned foreign exchanges in Yau Ma Tei, Tsim Sha Tsui and Mong Kok.
In one case last year, a man looking to sell US$3,800 was told at a shop that its exchange rate was US$1 for HK$7.75, the council said in its June issue of magazine.
He was given HK$28,500 - and no receipt - but later realised he should have received HK$29,450. When he returned to the shop, the staff member insisted the rate was HK$7.50, not HK$7.75.
The money changer was prosecuted and fined for failure to issue a receipt; failure to keep a copy of the receipt for a year; and failure to display the conversion rate.
Professor Michael Hui King-man, chairman of the council's publicity and community relations committee, advised people to examine their receipts.
