Chief Inspector Lam Ka-ching of the Hong Kong Regional Crime Unit said on Monday that the 558 victims ranged in age from 17 to 88, and each suffered losses ranging from HK$5 million to HK$19 million. “They include individuals with higher education backgrounds and high salaries, such as accountants, auditors, bank managers, investment advisors and those working in the legal field,” he said. "No matter what your background is, you can be targeted by scammers."
Between January 8 and 21, police launched Operation Enterhaze to target fraud and money laundering syndicates. Among the victims identified in the two-week crackdown was a 36-year-old software engineer who lost more than HK$19 million in an online investment scam, the largest sum in recent cases. Police said the scammer befriended the man online and then lured him to open an investment account on a fake trading website, with the funds transferred directly to the scammer.
Chief Inspector Wu Man-yee of the Hong Kong Regional Crime Prevention Office said, "Within five months, he transferred more than HK$19 million to 42 third-party bank accounts through 81 transactions." When the victim lost contact with the scammer, he realized that I was deceived.
Hong Kong police arrested 219 people in an operation against fraud syndicates, involving more than HK$500 million
Hong Yuen said investigations revealed that some of their accounts had been used to launder about HK$60 million in criminal proceeds. She appealed to the public not to lend or sell bank accounts to make a quick profit as they could face money laundering charges even if they do not know the source or purpose of the funds. Money laundering is punishable by up to 14 years in prison and a fine of HK$5 million.
In the first 10 months of 2023, various types of fraud cases in Hong Kong increased by 52.1%, with a total of 33,923 cases occurring and losses reaching HK$7.2 billion.
Police advise the public to use the police's Scameter search engine, accessible through the Cyber Defender website, to check for suspicious or fraudulent schemes. The search engine provides information that helps users identify suspicious URLs, emails, platform usernames, bank accounts, mobile phone numbers and IP addresses. 00,000 Hong Kong dollars.
