Ten people were arrested on 7 October on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud and money laundering, as police investigated a group accused of using fake modelling-job advertisements to obtain e-wallet accounts.
Police said the group had operated since 2024, posting advertisements on social media between October 2024 and May 2026. Applicants were asked to stop using their existing e-wallet and register a new one with a phone number supplied by the group, supposedly so they could be paid for modelling work. Police said the group controlled the new accounts, which were used to receive money from scams.
Police linked the group to at least 43 online-shopping and sex-related scams. The reported victims were 13 men and 30 women, aged 13 to 37, who lost about HK$810,000 in total.
In the online-shopping scams, advertisements offered popular concert tickets at low prices or claimed sellers were willing to part with them. Police said about six in ten victims of those scams were students.
Police said dummy accounts received about HK$2.16 million in funds of unknown origin. More than HK$1 million was then transferred from dummy accounts to bank accounts belonging to core members of the group. Separately, officers intercepted about HK$3.5 million of funds of unknown origin in an account belonging to one group member.
Police urged young people and students not to hand control of bank or e-wallet accounts to strangers, or register an account using a phone number supplied by a stranger.