Two arrested in Hong Kong over HK$1.8 billion money laundering gang linked to phone scams
PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 24 November, 2015, 2:58am
UPDATED : Tuesday, 24 November, 2015, 2:58am
Danny Mok and Christy Leung
The male suspect is escorted away by police. Photo: David Wong
Police yesterday arrested two Hongkongers in a crackdown on a HK$1.8 billion money laundering gang with a suspected connection to a regional phone scam ring.
The operation came after an unprecedented joint operation involving police from the mainland, Taiwan and the city last month when two overseas-based syndicates operating phone scams were busted, with 431 mainlanders or Taiwanese arrested.
A 37-year-old woman, who operated a money exchange in Central, and a 43-year-old man who worked for her, allegedly laundered HK$1.8 billion in two months with the money exchange and seven local bank accounts opened in the name of a shell company.
"We are still chasing the source of the money," said chief inspector Lam Cheuk-ho of Kowloon East regional crime unit.
"The woman hired the man, who worked as a warehouse worker, to open a shell company and bank accounts under his name."
Lam believed the man did not know about the syndicate and the plot.
Of the HK$1.8 billion, police believed HK$6.5 million was the proceeds from five cross-strait phone scam cases, Lam said.
He said police had recovered HK$19 million, of which HK$2.65 million came from two phone scams.
"All scams involved callers posing as mainland officials to con victims. We will contact the victims as soon as possible", he added.
The woman was arrested on Hong Kong Island yesterday afternoon, while the man was arrested in Sau Mau Ping at the same time.
Lam said most the proceeds from phone scams had already been cashed abroad via underground banks soon after victims were conned.
Police from the mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan last month cracked two phone scams syndicates allegedly controlled by Taiwanese. One gang, set up in Indonesia, had allegedly duped Hongkongers out of HK$118 million in 431 cases this year, according to Hong Kong police.
The other syndicate operated in Cambodia and did not target Hong Kong.
The operation was coordinated by the mainland's Ministry of Public Security and involved officers working with their counterparts in the region.
It came to light when 254 mainland suspects arrested in Indonesia and Cambodia last month were sent back to Beijing, Hangzhou , Shanghai and Guangzhou on chartered flights on November 10.
