Hong Kong police arrest 20 people, including 14 domestic helpers, in crackdown on triad-controlled money-laundering syndicate
- Police say those arrested include six Hong Kong men and 14 women, all domestic helpers
- Syndicate lured domestic helpers with as little as HK$1,000 each to set up bank accounts to launder HK$10 million in criminal proceeds in six months, force adds
The force on Monday said six of the suspects were Hong Kong men and the other 14 women were domestic helpers from overseas allegedly paid between HK$1,000 and HK$2,500 each to open 17 bank accounts used to process HK$10 million in illegal funds.
“The amount is high when compared with the salaries of domestic helpers,” Chief Inspector So Chi-ming of the Kowloon East regional crime unit said.
“That was the main incentive tempting them to sell their bank accounts.”
The minimum monthly salary for domestic helpers increased from HK$4,730 to HK$4,870 last September.
Senior Inspector Ng Ming-fung of the same police unit said investigations revealed the syndicate used an overseas domestic worker as way to recruit other helpers.
Ng said meetings with helpers were arranged in locations such as parks, fast-food outlets and even hotel rooms.
“The gang used mobile applications to assist domestic workers in opening bank accounts … and retained control over the passwords of these stooge accounts,” he said,
Ng added that put the syndicate in a position to manage and manipulate the funds.
Stooge account holders lend or sell their bank accounts to syndicates to collect illicit money and launder crime proceeds in exchange for cash payments.
Ng said the syndicate used 17 stooge accounts to launder HK$10 million over the past six months.
He said the accounts were linked to 39 cases of deception involving financial losses of HK$5.4 million. The cases included online romance scams and e-shopping frauds.
Police last Saturday launched an arrest operation, code-named “Hoversmoke” and made the latest arrests in a string of raids across the city.
Ng said the investigation revealed a triad-controlled money-laundering syndicate was behind the scam, with some of its core members having gang affiliations.
The suspects, aged between 29 and 63, were detained on suspicion of conspiracy to launder money – an offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison and a HK$5 million fine.
They were still being detained and questioned by police on Monday.
Police said investigations continued and further arrests were possible and that officers were looking for the final destination of the illicit cash.
So said the helpers involved had lived in the city for varying periods of time.
“Some have been in Hong Kong for several years, while others arrived in the city recently,” he added.
He said the operation was mounted after the force identified an increase in deception and money-laundering cases involving domestic helpers from abroad in the first quarter this year.
He reminded the public, including domestic helpers, that “allowing your personal bank accounts to be used by the criminals for the receipt and transfer of proceeds of crime constitutes the offence of money laundering”.
The city recorded a 42.6 per cent increase in all types of deception last year, with 39,824 reports received, up from 27,923 in 2022.
The amount lost went up by 89 per cent to HK$9.1 billion in 2023 from HK$4.8 billion the year before.
