Two organisers of a cross-border fake-identity-card and illegal-work scheme have been convicted and jailed for 29 and 42 months. The Immigration Department said the group recruited mainland residents with offers of overseas work, then diverted some to illegal jobs in Hong Kong.
According to the department, recruiters advertised high-paying overseas jobs on mainland social media and charged applicants about RMB 30,000 for arranging work visas. They later claimed visa problems meant the jobs could not go ahead, returned RMB 10,000 and persuaded applicants to come to Hong Kong to work illegally.
The group allegedly arranged for forged Hong Kong identity cards to be brought from mainland China and distributed to workers. In some cases, applicants were given only an image to use when looking for work. Organisers charged HK$3,000 for each card or image and arranged accommodation. Workers were told to show employers the image on a phone and say their identity card had been lost or was being replaced.
The investigation began in January 2024, after officers found a forged identity card on a mainland traveller at a checkpoint in Lok Ma Chau. The traveller was suspected of using it to work illegally as a restaurant dishwasher. The department said 15 people were arrested: two organisers, one group member, 11 workers and a local employer. A group member and 10 workers were also sentenced to between 12 and 15 months for immigration offences, including breaching conditions of stay and using or possessing forged identity cards.
The Immigration Department urged employers to inspect an applicant’s physical identity card instead of relying on a phone image or copy. Employers who have doubts about a card can call the department’s identity-check hotline on 2824 1551.