Hong Kong police deploy non-ethnic Chinese personnel in undercover crackdown on illegal food delivery workers
- Joint operation with Immigration Department launched in response to recent rise in non-ethnic Chinese illegal immigrants caught crossing the border since last August
- Sixty-nine suspects rounded up in recent operation, including 18 local residents accused of renting access to food delivery accounts to undocumented workers
Hong Kong police have deployed non-ethnic Chinese undercover personnel to root out asylum seekers illegally working as food delivery couriers, as part of a wider crackdown that has led to the arrest of more than 60 suspects, the Post has learned.
Superintendent Franky Cheung Ting-fung of the force’s organised crime and triad bureau on Thursday said the joint operation with the Immigration Department, which ran from Saturday to Tuesday, was prompted by a surge in the number of non-ethnic Chinese illegal immigrants coming to Hong Kong since last August.
“[The bureau] earlier deployed undercover personnel to infiltrate non-ethnic Chinese communities, collecting intelligence on illegal entrances and illegal workers,” he said.
A source told the Post that police had deployed non-ethnic Chinese staff as part of the undercover operation.
23 foreigners arrested in Hong Kong over illegal food delivery work
The number of people caught crossing the border illegally reached 1,313 last year. Of these, 80 per cent were apprehended between August and December, police said.
The 1,073 apprehended over the five-month period in 2023 represented a ninefold increase from the year before.
Police said most of those previously apprehended had come from countries such as Bangladesh, Pakistan and India, adding that the suspects had initially applied for travel visas for mainland China before trying to reach Hong Kong by boat.
The recent crackdown led to the arrest of 69 suspects, aged 21 to 79, for offences that included conspiracy to defraud, taking paid or unpaid employment illegally, recruiting illegal labour and using false instruments.
Forty-two of those arrested were connected to the food delivery industry. Eighteen of the group were permanent residents, who allegedly used their identity cards to set up accounts with food delivery platforms and offered them to asylum seekers for a fee.
Hong Kong authorities break up syndicate using illegal workers as cleaners
The suspects used social media and trading platforms to advertise the service, allowing clients to earn commissions by accepting food delivery orders on their behalf.
The accounts were on offer for up to HK$1,000 (US$127) per week, or 10 to 20 per cent of a worker’s income from commissions.
Those using the accounts could earn as much as HK$20,000 in commissions and bonuses each month.
Police said the operation had also exposed technical loopholes in food courier companies’ oversight systems, which the suspects had exploited.
A lack of two-step authentication systems on some platforms had allowed account holders to transfer login details to other parties, who could then sign in at the same time, the force said.
Facial verification checks also proved to be limited as the process only needed to be performed once before the account could be passed to another user.
The force added that some suspects had used software apps to create fake images to trick verification systems.
Authorities during the operation also seized four electric bicycles used by some of the suspects.
Those charged with conspiracy to defraud and taking paid or unpaid employment illegally as part of the clampdown appeared at West Kowloon Court on Monday.
Police said further arrests were possible.
2 food couriers arrested over accounts sold to illegal workers in Hong Kong
Director of Immigration Benson Kwok Joon-fung on Thursday said his department would clamp down on non-refoulement claimants working without approval as part of future operations.
Non-refoulement refers to an assurance that asylum seekers will not be sent to a country where they may be persecuted or tortured.
“Most of them usually take up low-skilled work like food delivery or even domestic work,” Kwok said. “We will continue to work on this aspect and conduct more operations on this.”
Immigration officers last year arrested 628 non-ethnic Chinese and 250 local employers as part of efforts to crack down on undocumented workers.
Additional reporting by Jess Ma
