Twenty-two traders have been fined up to $10,000 under the Weights & Measures Ordinance after admitting using inaccurate scales to weigh scrap paper from April to September.

Customs officers posing as vendors sold scrap to the traders and found they manipulated their scales so the weight shown was less than the actual weight by up to 38%, enabling them to pay less for the paper.

There have been 102 businesses prosecuted for short weight offences in first three quarters of this year, up 42% on the same period last year.

More prosecutions are pending.