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Police arrest 13 in HK over regional lottery and investment scam

Australia
Amy Nip

The euphoria of believing they had hit the jackpot turned quickly to despair for the victims of a regional lottery and investment scam.

More than 160 people - most of them Chinese - living in countries across the Asia-Pacific were swindled out of a total of HK$21 million.

During the past two days, police arrested 13 Hong Kong men, aged 20 to 60, suspected of deception and money laundering. Two of the detained men, aged 49 and 54, were believed to be the masterminds of the fraud.

The group made phone calls and sent e-mails to targets in the region - including the mainland, Taiwan, countries in Southeast Asia, and Australia - telling them they had made their fortune by winning the lottery or through an investment.

Targets were asked to pay an 'administrative fee' to a bank account in order to collect their prize or investment return. The victims paid amounts ranging from tens of thousands of Hong Kong dollars up to HK$3 million into the account.

West Kowloon's regional crime squad and the commercial crime bureau found 17 bank books, 38 credits cards and HK$107,000 cash at the group's base.

Chan Yee-lai, superintendent of the commercial crime bureau, said group members had first befriended the victims on social-networking websites. 'They built friendships over time,' Chan said.

In one scenario, victims were asked to complete a survey, during which they were told someone might contact them in the future if they won a prize. Later, that made the group's claims more convincing, she said.

In other cases, victims were persuaded to make investments.

Police warned that telephone calls and e-mails from unknown sources should be treated with caution, and personal details should not be given out in such situations.

The police have alerted the Australian authorities to the fraud and suggested Hongkongers tell any relatives living overseas about the scam.

Meanwhile, customs intercepted cigarettes being smuggled across the border at the Man Kam To Control Point two days ago.

About 1.9 million cigarettes for which duties had not been paid were found in an inbound goods vehicle.

The contents of the vehicle had been declared as glass vases and plastic cups. The cigarettes were worth about HK$3.6 million, with potential unpaid duties of HK$2.3 million.

Boxes of plastic cups had been stacked around the cigarettes to conceal them.

A 54-year-old man was arrested and charged with 'importing unmanifested cargo' under the Import and Export Ordinance.

Officers from the Special Task Force also foiled a smuggling attempt in Tseung Kwan O yesterday, seizing 1,763 computer hard disks and 2,218 mobile phone circuit boards in 83 boxes found in a private car. They were worth a total of about HK$800,000.

Officers had seen 10 men loading goods from the car onto a speedboat near the Wan Poon Path. The goods were seized but no one was arrested. The case is being investigated.

Small fortune

Victims live overseas, including the mainland, Taiwan and Australia

The amount paid out, in Hong Kong dollars, by victims of the fraud is: $21m

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