Police urge Hongkongers to avoid allowing others to use their bank accounts for handling crime proceeds after three-week operation in Sham Shui Po district
‘Residents should not rent, lend or buy bank accounts, as such actions committed in the handling of crime proceeds … could still violate money laundering laws’, force says
Hong Kong police have arrested 84 people in connection with 53 cases of fraud and money laundering involving HK$118 million (US$15 million).
The force on Monday said the suspects rounded up during the three-week operation in Sham Shui Po comprised 71 men and 13 women, aged 18 to 68, with those arrested linked to incidents involving 131 victims.
In response to the crackdown on such cases, Chief Inspector Cheng Ki-fung of the district’s crime division warned Hongkongers to avoid allowing others to use their bank accounts for fraudulent activities.
“Residents should not rent, lend or buy bank accounts, as such actions committed in the handling of crime proceeds, even if the owner did not control the account in practice, could still violate money laundering laws in the city,” Cheng said.
Inspector Wong Sze-ki of the district’s technology and financial crime squad said most of the 84 arrestees had allegedly lent their accounts to a scam syndicate for laundering crime proceeds.
The account holders had earned sums ranging from HK$2,000 to HK$2 million, which was drawn from HK$118 million in crime proceeds from activities such as investment scams, fake romance traps and employment offers, as well as phone and in-person cases of deception.
Among the victims, a 41-year-old housewife lost the most after she was duped out of HK$60 million in June when a scammer phoned her and impersonated a security official from mainland China.
The suspects from the three-week operation were arrested on suspicion of obtaining property by deception, money laundering or conspiracy to defraud. Seven of the group have already appeared before the court.
The force said it had logged 1,844 cases of fraud in Sham Shui Po in the first nine months of this year, up 44 per cent from the 1,286 incidents recorded over the same period in 2022. The annual total last year stood at 1,873.
Police also separately discovered seven men, aged 18 to 58, were allegedly involved in a single instance of money laundering, as well as five cases of phone deception and two incidents involving street scams.
The group had phoned victims and posed as their sons to ask for bail money after claiming they had been arrested on the mainland.
The force opened an investigation after several victims reported the incidents to police, leading to the arrest of three other men who allegedly attempted to collect the crime proceeds.
Chief Inspector Cheng said the force would continue to crack down on fraud cases, as his team had stepped up measures to catch those lending their bank accounts.
