Police arrest 682 in three-week crackdown on scams worth $620m

Police arrested 682 people over the past three weeks in connection with 580 fraud and technology-related cases involving HK$620 million, mainly phone scams, online shopping fraud and job scams.

The suspects include 469 men and 213 women aged 14 to 89, facing charges such as conspiracy to defraud, obtaining property by deception, and money laundering.

Among them, 11 members of an online romance scam syndicate and a linked money-laundering group were arrested, aged 24 to 73. The group included three ringleaders and one key member, with two already charged with conspiracy to defraud.

The romance scam gang rented industrial building units as both living quarters and scam bases.

They used fake profiles on platforms to pose as young local women working overseas, claiming setbacks and suicidal thoughts to gain victims’ sympathy.

Another member then impersonated the woman’s boss or an overseas police officer, announcing her death and showing forged company cards and inheritance documents.

They told victims the deceased had designated them to handle or inherit assets, tricking them into paying handling fees before disappearing.

The same group carried out secondary scams by posing as police officers, contacting victims to claim the case was solved, and demanding administrative fees to recover lost money.

Police recorded over 300 similar romance scam cases and 62 secondary scam incidents, with total losses exceeding HK$7.4 million.

The syndicate rented private residential units to store crime proceeds, including cash, luxury jewelry, watches and spirits worth over HK$6 million.

From October last year to last month, the group laundered proceeds through the money-laundering network using more than 200 mule accounts.

They opened accounts on overseas crypto platforms with fake or mule identities, traded virtual currencies, cashed out via over-the-counter exchanges, and delivered cash in batches to the industrial building, involving HK$44 million.

Police described the laundering process as highly sophisticated, combining physical cash couriering, virtual currency transactions and overseas transfers to make tracing difficult.