Two men were charged yesterday over the deposit of more than $200,000 in counterfeit notes in HSBC deposit machines last week.
The development came as the Commercial Crime Bureau arrested another suspect, aged 21, at the Hong Kong-Macau Ferry Terminal on his return from Macau at 11pm on Wednesday, bringing the number of people caught over the scam to 12, including a 15-year-old boy.
The two suspects, aged 21 and 25, were each charged with one count of theft. They are due to appear in North Kowloon Court this morning.
Of the remaining 10 suspects, one was still being detained by police last night, while nine have been released on bail ranging from $1,000 to $5,000.
Police started the arrest operation on Saturday after receiving a report from HSBC on Friday that it had discovered counterfeits in four of its 169 deposit-only machines.
At least 400 fakes were discovered. It is believed the counterfeits were part of a scam in which genuine notes were withdrawn after the fakes were deposited at four HSBC instant deposit machines in Yuen Long, Mongkok and Causeway Bay last week.