A local couple were arrested on Tuesday for participating in fraud and money laundering, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Leng Kam Lon said during a special press conference yesterday.
Leng identified the married couple as a 41-year-old businessman surnamed U and a 38-year-old housewife surnamed Leong. There are seven victims, all of them young mainlanders, comprising six males and one female. Five of the victims were defrauded out of a total of HK$4.5 million (4.62 million patacas), while the other two incurred no losses; while the smallest loss was HK$80,000, the largest was HK$2.53 million.
Asked by a reporter whether the victims were students from the mainland studying in Macau, Leng merely said that they were “young mainlanders”.
According to Leng, the police received a report from one of the male victims on April 16. He told the police that he had received a fake police scam call in March, during which the fraudster told him that he was involved in “economic crimes” and “money laundering” in the mainland, requiring him to pay “bail.”
Following the fraudster’s instructions, the victim transferred a certain amount of money into a designated Hong Kong bank account. He also handed over cash to a middle-aged mainland man surnamed Tan, whom he met in Macau, as directed by the fraudster. The victim reported a total loss of HK$335,000 to the police.
Leng noted that the police discovered that the six other victims had been deceived by the same method. All victims received scam calls between March and April, claiming that they were involved in “economic crimes” and “money laundering activities” in the mainland. Among them, four victims handed over cash to Tan in Macau, while two received bogus documents, including “arrest warrants,” from him.
The police arrested Tan on April 16 and confirmed that he had provided fake documents to the victims and received some of the illegal funds. He then transferred these funds to a young mainland woman surnamed Zhou. Further investigations revealed that both Tan and Zhou were also victims of fake police scams. They had handed over fake documents and received illegal funds as instructed by the “police officers.” They were transferred to the Public Prosecution Office (MP) on April 17, facing charges of fraud.
Following up on the investigation, the police identified U and Leong as the suspects who finally received the illegal funds. They were summoned to a police station on Tuesday, but refused to cooperate under questioning. The police discovered that U and Leong had received at least HK$3,997,030 in illegal funds.
The spouses were transferred to the Public Prosecution Office (MP) yesterday, facing charges of fraud and money laundering.
Judiciary Police (PJ) officers escort the two hooded suspects to a PJ van outside the PJ headquarters in Zape yesterday. – Photo: Ada Lei
