Bail denied to pair held over bogus HSBC site
Two of three men who were charged yesterday with receiving cash embezzled through a bogus HSBC website have been denied bail.
Steven Wong Ming-ip, 26, of Tseung Kwan O, was charged at Kowloon City Magistrates' Court with stealing $100,000 from the bank account of Ma Kuen-fong, along with a further $17,000 from the account of Nancy Rose Kauffman.
At the same court, Kam Chui-shing, 21, of Chuk Yuen, was also charged with stealing $100,000 from Ms Ma's bank account.
Principal magistrate Ernest Lin rejected their bail applications and adjourned the case until December 6.
He called for information technology experts to examine the pair's home computers for any evidence of hacking activities.
A lawyer for the two suspects, who were both support technicians for iCable, said that while the case was serious, the alleged roles played by the pair were relatively minor.
He said the two had provided their bank account numbers to receive the embezzled money, but were not involved in plotting the scam.
At Eastern Court, Lee Kam-hung, 30, was charged with stealing $42,300 from the account of Ong Joo-en.
Describing the case as 'very serious', Magistrate Timothy Casewell granted the suspect $5,000 bail and adjourned the hearing to December 3.
He said the adjournment would allow police sufficient time to complete their investigations.
The three suspects charged yesterday were among eight men and three women who were arrested on Thursday in connection with the case.
The group are alleged to be members of a syndicate that has embezzled $660,000 from the accounts of people it directed to the bogus site through hyperlinks in e-mails.
The internet scam in which they were allegedly involved is commonly known by the term 'phishing'.
Six of those arrested on Thursday have now been charged with theft.
