Government reminds public that consumption vouchers must not be encashed

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The Government disbursed the first instalment of the consumption voucher under the 2023 Consumption Voucher Scheme (CVS) to about 6.4 million eligible persons on April 16. The Government reminds members of the public that the vouchers must be used at local retail, catering and service outlets or their online platforms which accept payments by the stored value facilities (SVFs) under the scheme (i.e. AlipayHK, BoC Pay, Octopus, PayMe from HSBC, Tap & Go and WeChat Pay HK). The vouchers must not be used for other purposes including encashment. The SVFs have set usage restrictions on the vouchers to prevent them from being used for non-designated purposes.

On recent posts on social media platforms alleging that consumption vouchers can be cashed in, a Government spokesman said that the Government has asked the SVF operators to monitor merchants' transactions using consumption vouchers. If individual merchants are suspected to have act of irregularities including encashment of vouchers, the relevant operators will take appropriate follow-up actions, including terminating the stored value payment service provided to the concerned merchants. In addition, if individual merchants collude with members of the public to make forged transaction records to encash consumption vouchers through unlawful means and engage in acts such as falsification and deception, they may have committed a criminal offence. The CVS Secretariat will refer suspected non-compliant encashment cases to law enforcement agencies for follow-up.

People may visit the CVS website (www.consumptionvoucher.gov.hk) or call hotline 18 5000 for detailed information of 2023 CVS.

Ends/Monday, April 17, 2023
Issued at HKT 23:45

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