29 Suspicious People were detained by Hong Kong Police while accused of selling bank accounts to fraudsters
- The accused can access bank a/cs linked to 23 cyber scams and 5 money-laundering incidents.
- According to Inspector Tang Chi-shing, many people were offered several thousand dollars to sell their bank accounts.
In a 20-day raid on people who sell their bank accounts to crime syndicates so they can use them to gather and launder the proceeds of fraud, Hong Kong police have detained 29 suspects.
A total of 23 online frauds, five money-laundering incidents, and 20 males and 9 women, aged 19 to 64, held bank accounts totaling more than HK$47 million (US$5.9 million).
Inspector Tang Chi-shing, Kwun Tong district, Technology, and Financial Crime Squad, Monday.
| “The inquiry found that most of them received payments ranging from a few hundred to several thousand dollars per person to sell their bank accounts.”
Depending on how many bank accounts they sold and how long syndicates utilized them, they were paid a certain amount of money. The biggest loss included a victim who was duped out of HK$10 million in an online romance fraud. More than HK$20 million was at stake in the five money-laundering cases. Through an online fraud, HK$14 million was stolen from a victim who was living abroad and transferred to Hong Kong. To stop criminal organizations from utilizing stooge bank account holders to process illicit cash, the operation targeted account holders. |
Construction site employees, housewives, and unemployed people were among the suspects.
They were taken into custody on fraud charges, gaining property by deception, and money laundering. Police confiscated bank cards, relevant bank paperwork, and mobile phones during the operation.
Police Force
| The 23 cybercrime incidents, which resulted in losses of over HK$27.5 million, included online romance scams, e-shopping fraud, employment scams, and phony investment agreements.
All of the suspects had been granted bail pending additional inquiries and potential arrests. |
Officers pounced on the 29 suspects in a series of raids across the city from August 11 to August 31 after gathering evidence.
Tang warned people against lending or selling their bank accounts to others to handle money from unidentified sources because doing so could result in money laundering penalties.
Money laundering in Hong Kong carries a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison and a HK$5 million fine.
Between January and June of this year, police dealt with 18,743 money laundering cases, up 52% from the 12,326 cases reported during the same time in 2022.
The total amount lost due to cases this year was HK$2.69 billion, a 28% increase over the HK$2.1 billion reported during the same time period in 2022.
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