Hong Kong police said a two-day operation on October 12 and 13 dismantled a phone-scam centre in an industrial area of Kwai Chung, a money-laundering operation and two illegal gambling venues. They arrested 44 people overall and linked the operations to Wo Shing Wo Triad Society.
Police said the scam centre had operated for about six months and was connected to at least 65 fake customer-service cases between June and October. The cases involved losses of HK$11 million, with the largest single loss HK$840,000.
Callers posed as customer-service staff from an electronic-payment platform and claimed an insurance service the person had supposedly bought was about to expire and trigger automatic charges. When someone said they had not bought it and wanted to cancel, they were transferred to an accomplice posing as a cancellation-line operator. The accomplice sought a deposit, handling fee or account-unfreezing fee, then directed the person to send money to a designated mule account, police said.
Police described the laundering operation as separate from the phone-scam centre, but linked to the same group. It used different mule accounts and multiple transactions to disguise criminal proceeds, and operated from hotels in West Kowloon, changing locations every four to five days to evade investigation. Police estimated it laundered about HK$4 million a month and more than HK$20 million over roughly six months.
Seven people were arrested in connection with the scam centre, while 34 were arrested in connection with suspected money laundering, operating gambling premises or gambling at illegal venues. Police arrested three more mule-account holders the following morning.
Police urged people who receive suspicious text messages to check them through verified channels, rather than use contact details in the message, and not to transfer money at the instruction of anyone claiming to be customer service.