Police in Sau Mau Ping District have arrested 11 people in an investigation into a group they say handled more than HK$70 million in suspected criminal proceeds. Police link the group to 85 fraud cases with reported losses of more than HK$24 million.
The group allegedly spent the two months before the arrests targeting people in financial difficulty and job seekers with offers of loans without credit checks. Police said recruits were asked to hand over identity documents and open new bank accounts, which were then used for money laundering.
When borrowers could not repay, members allegedly offered to cancel their debts or pay them for their accounts. Borrowers who refused these offers could be threatened or visited by debt collectors. Recruits were also asked for bank documents and, in some cases, phone cards registered in their own names.
The group also targeted young, single people: it sought intermediaries to arrange sham marriages and offered a few hundred Hong Kong dollars for personal details used to register phone cards in their names and open online bank accounts.
The accounts were used to receive fraud proceeds, which were moved through successive transfers. The group had recruits register more than 300 phone cards in their own names. Investment scams made up much of the reported loss; in the largest single investment-fraud case, the victim lost as much as HK$16 million.
Sau Mau Ping District police searched 13 homes and two companies on November 2 and 3. The 11 people, aged 19 to 43, were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud, money laundering and criminal intimidation. Some were later released on bail while others remained in custody for investigation.
Police urged the public not to rent, lend or sell bank accounts or personal information, warning that people who provide them may become accomplices if their details are used in crime.