Fraudsters used ‘thousands’ of Hong Kong bank accounts to launder HK$4 billion in one year
Since the city’s anti-fraud squad was set up a year ago, international and local scammers and fraudsters have been collecting illicit payments using bank accounts in Hong Kong
Thousands of Hong Kong bank accounts have been used to collect and launder about HK$4 billion (US$500 million) by local and international fraudsters in the past year, since the city’s anti-fraud squad was set up to discover such illicit payments.
Many account holders were mainlanders believed to have been recruited by underground money exchangers from mainland China. They worked with fraudsters to launder money swindled from victims, according to law enforcement sources.
The fraudsters would control the accounts through online banking services and collect money from four major types of deception – commercial email scams, online romance scams, investment fraud and phone scams.
One source believed more than 2,000 accounts had been used to collect and launder swindled money over the past year, saying that it was possible many other accounts may not yet have been discovered.
But another source said at least 3,000 accounts were involved because in some of the cases, money was laundered through more than 10 accounts in one scam before the cash was channelled out of the city.