Hong Kong police arrest 10, recover HK$4 million from online scams on 52 victims totalling HK$31 million
- Suspects, aged between 19 and 60, detained on suspicion of money laundering and obtaining property by deception
- Most of them were holders of bank accounts used to collect the scammed money
Hong Kong police have arrested 10 suspects and intercepted HK$4 million (US$509,600) in scammed money linked to seven online deception cases involving HK$31 million and 52 victims.
The force on Tuesday said most of the suspects were holders of bank accounts used to collect the money and launder the illegal crime proceeds.
Detectives from the Tsuen Wan criminal unit arrested the eight men and two women in a series of raids on Sunday and Monday.
The suspects, aged between 19 and 60, were detained on suspicion of money laundering and obtaining property by deception.
“The investigation suggested the suspects were linked to seven deception cases in which 52 victims, aged 21 to 63, were duped out of HK$31 million in total,” police said.
During the operation, officers intercepted HK$4 million of the money lost.
According to the force, the deception cases included an investment fraud, internet love scam, online employment ruse and e-shopping scam.
During the two-day operation code-named “Skymirror”, officers also seized mobile phones, bank cards and related documents.
All the suspects have been released on bail pending further investigation. They are required to report back to police next month.
Separately, a 52-year-old woman lost HK$3.53 million after being coaxed by her bogus online lover to set up an account on a fraudulent gambling website last month.
Between March 8 and 30, she was lured into transferring the money into several designated bank accounts as her “gaming principal” to gamble in the fake online casino, according to police.
She realised it was a scam when she was unable to retrieve the money. The woman called police earlier this month. So far, no arrests have been made.
In Hong Kong, money laundering is punishable by up to 14 years in jail and a HK$5 million fine while the offence of obtaining property by deception carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.
Last year, police handled 27,923 deception cases totalling HK$4.8 billion in swindled money.
More than 70 per cent of last year’s deception cases were internet related, with 22,797 reports of technology crime resulting in losses of HK$3.2 billion. Phone scammers cheated victims out of more than HK$1 billion in 2,831 cases.
