Hong Kong police arrest 219 people over swindling residents out of HK$500 million in fraud, money-laundering crackdown
Fraudsters befriended the man online before luring him into setting up an investment account on a bogus trading website, with money being funnelled straight to scammers, police said.
“In five months, he transferred over HK$19 million into 42 third party bank accounts in 81 transactions,” Chief Inspector Wu Man-yee of the Hong Kong Island regional crime prevention office said.
The victim realised he had been conned when he lost contact with the scammers.
Between January 8 and 21, police mounted operation “Enterhaze” to combat fraud and money-laundering syndicates.
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“The operation specifically targets the holders of ‘stooge accounts’. They are not only tools used by fraud syndicates to launder money, but they are also these syndicates’ key accomplices in the scams,” Lam said.
According to police, stooge account holders are those who loan or sell their bank accounts to syndicates to collect scammed money and launder crime proceeds in exchange for hundreds or thousands of Hong Kong dollars.
Officers arrested 157 men and 62 women, aged between 17 and 77, on suspicion of obtaining property by deception, conspiracy to defraud and money laundering.
Senior Inspector Hung Yu-yan of the regional crime unit said most of the suspects had loaned or sold their bank accounts, which were used by fraud syndicates to collect scammed money and launder the illegal funds.
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She said investigations showed some of their accounts had been used to launder about HK$60 million in crime proceeds.
Hung urged the public not to lend or sell their bank accounts to make a quick profit, as they could face money-laundering charges even if they were unaware of the origin or use of funds.
Money laundering is punishable by up to 14 years’ jail and a HK$5 million fine.
The city recorded a 52.1 per cent increase in all types of deception, with 33,923 cases and losses of HK$7.2 billion reported in the first 10 months of the year.
Police advised the public to use the force’s Scameter search engine, accessible through the CyberDefender website, to check for suspicious or fraudulent schemes.
The search engine has information to help users identify suspicious web addresses, emails, platform usernames, bank accounts, mobile phone numbers and IP addresses.