Hong Kong police arrest 10 in crackdown on HK$4 million upskirt photo operation

Hong Kong police have arrested 10 people for allegedly operating a social media group selling upskirt photos of women, with suspected criminal proceeds reaching about HK$4 million (US$512,100).

Senior Superintendent Frances Lee King-hei of the force’s cybersecurity and technology crime bureau said on Wednesday that the force had found more than 15,000 upskirt images in a social media chat group operated by the syndicate.

She added that 2,000 of the images were of uniformed female students, with about 200 pupils currently identifiable.

But she said officers were still determining the total amount of content stored on the 11 phones and five laptops confiscated during the operation, as well as a cloud service behind the operation.

The arrests included six men and four women, with a couple suspected of being the masterminds behind the syndicate that ran the chat group selling such images.

“We have successfully smashed a local syndicate using social media platforms to publish voyeuristic photos and obscene items,” Lee said.