A 32-year-old chef was sentenced to 11 months in prison, fined HK$4,500, and ordered to repay HK$25,000 to defrauded donors for helping scammers launder about HK$65,000, including proceeds from the Wang Fuk Court donation scam.
The defendant, Sham Shu-shing, pleaded guilty to dealing with property known or believed to represent proceeds of an indictable offense at West Kowloon Magistrates' Courts on Thursday morning.
The court heard that four individuals were defrauded of more than HK$25,000 in donations via FPS to a bank account they believed belonged to a survivor of the Wang Fuk Court fire after reading a Threads post on November 29, 2025 — three days after the tragedy.
Investigations discovered the FPS account was linked to an Alipay account, which was opened by the defendant on October 24, 2025.
It is reported that the concerned account received 46 deposits totaling HK$64,886.45 between November 25 and 30, 2025.
Notably, all the money was withdrawn shortly afterward in 48 separate transactions, leaving a balance of just HK$6.83 by November 30, 2025.
The bank suspended the account on December 1, 2025, and Sham was arrested the following day.
Under police caution, Sham admitted registering and selling the account via Facebook to an unknown person for HK$3,800 last October, despite believing the account would be used for illicit gains.
The defense told the court Sham had voluntarily reported to police after learning from a friend that his account had been used for illegal activities, stating that Sham was not part of any criminal syndicate but only acted out of financial desperation while unemployed.
They pleaded for a more lenient probation or community service sentence than imprisonment, highlighting that Sham had received no profit from the scam and was willing to repay the HK$25,000 to the four victims.
Principal Magistrate Don So Man-lung rejected the plea for leniency, stressing the seriousness of money laundering regardless of whether the illicit funds were linked to the Wang Fuk Court fire.
So further pointed out that Sham had knowingly sold his account for use in processing illegal proceeds, making him complicit in the scheme.
Sham was sentenced to 11 months' imprisonment, a HK$4,500 fine, and ordered to compensate the four defrauded donors HK$25,000.
