Joint enforcement operation with law enforcement agencies taken against suspected touting activities at LCSD venues

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The Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD), the Immigration Department (ImmD) and the Police conducted a joint operation on July 13 at tennis courts in Wan Chai District to combat touting activities at recreation and sports venues, and other illegal activities. During the operation, three suspected scalpers were arrested at the tennis courts in Victoria Park. One of them was a foreign domestic helper suspected to have breached her condition of stay by transferring tennis court user permits for reward. The ImmD also arrested a person suspected of using and possessing another person's Hong Kong identity card (HKID) without reasonable excuse. The ImmD is conducting follow-up investigations of immigration offences which involved the aforesaid suspects, and will not rule out the possibility of further arrests of other persons involved.

In addition, during the joint operation on July 13 at the tennis courts in Victoria Park, and the Hong Kong Tennis Centre, there were four cases in which the hirers were found to have breached the LCSD's "Conditions of Use of Recreation and Sports Facilities". The LCSD has punished the hirers in the above cases in accordance with existing penalties. In one case, a user used an HKID card of another person for check-in at the facility concerned and the LCSD has suspended for 360 days the booking rights of the original hirer who has illegally lent his HKID card to another person for check-in at sports facilities.

The LCSD has long been concerned about the fair use of recreation and sports facilities, and has adopted a multipronged approach to combating touting activities, including close liaisons with relevant law enforcement agencies in planning and conducting joint operations to combat touting activities and suspected cases involving other crimes. Apart from conducting joint operations with relevant law enforcement agencies, the LCSD will also introduce more timely measures to combat touting.

The LCSD appeals to the public not to buy sessions for use of facilities or pay for booking services from scalpers, and reiterates that user permits are non-transferable. In addition, according to the LCSD's "Conditions of Use of SmartPLAY", users are required to manage their accounts properly and should not share their accounts or disclose their user account numbers and passwords to others. The LCSD reminds members of the public that one's particulars in the SmartPLAY account, especially identity document numbers, are important personal data. Users should properly manage such data without disclosing the data to others arbitrarily, or else they could incur losses if the data are stolen for other unlawful purposes. If any SmartPLAY user is found to have provided inaccurate information or failed to comply with the "Conditions of Use of SmartPLAY", the LCSD is entitled to cancel his/her account or suspend his/her account for 180 days.

Ends/Thursday, July 25, 2024
Issued at HKT 11:30

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