Eleven suspects of three cross-border extortion gangs were arrested separately between the end of last year and this week by the mainland and Hong Kong police during a joint operation by the mainland, Hong Kong and local police, involving the equivalent of more than 3 million patacas in ill-gotten gains, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Ho Chan Nam said at a special press conference yesterday.
The 11 suspected gang members comprise six mainlanders and five Hong Kong residents.
According to Ho, there has been a rapid increase in online scams such as naked chat extortion and dating scams in Macau since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic early last year.
The Judiciary Police have set up a task force in response to the incidents and established a criminal information exchange mechanism with the Cyber Security and Technology Crime Bureau (CSTCB) in Hong Kong. During the cross-border operation which began in July last year three gangs from Hong Kong and the mainland were busted by the three police forces. The gangs mainly defrauded Hong Kong and Macau residents.
The three police forces discovered the communication tools and bank accounts used by the three gangs for the blackmail. The police forces launched their joint operation in July last year, Ho said.
According to Ho, Public Security Bureau (PSB) officers arrested six men and women in November and December last year in Henan and Jiangxi provinces.
According to Ho, last November PSB officers in Henan arrested a 35-year-old man surnamed Wu who is from Guangdong. Wu’s blackmail ranged from a few thousand to 100,000 yuan (123,000.00 patacas). One of his victims was a 19-year-old university student in Macau. PSB officers in Jiangxi arrested five suspects last December, involving 100,000 yuan in extortion money. One of their victims was a 22-year-old male sales assistant from Macau.
Ho said the Hong Kong police arrested five suspects on Tuesday involving 11 blackmail cases involving HK$2.8 million.
The cases are still under investigation and more suspects could be involved, Ho said, who said the total amount extorted by the three gangs from their victims exceeded the equivalent of over three million patacas.
According to Ho, the gangs mainly targeted male netizens by using social media platforms such as QQ, WeChat and WhatsApp, pretending to be young women to lure their victims to watch porn and take part in naked video chats. During the chats the gangs stole the victims’ smartphone contact lists and recorded their naked chat videos to threaten them and blackmail them. Ho said the gang members operated from different places and “hid” on various social media platforms, which made the police investigations more difficult.
The Judiciary Police are continuing to conduct intelligence exchanges and cooperation with the mainland and Hong Kong police to combat cross-border cyber crimes, Ho said.
Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Ho Chan Nam, flanked by two PJ officers, poses during yesterday’s special press conference about the naked chat blackmail cases at the PJ headquarters. Photo: Iong Tat Choi
This undated handout photo provided by the Judiciary Police (PJ) yesterday shows five suspected gang members arrested by the mainland’s Public Security Bureau (PSB) late last year. The suspects’ faces were pixelated by the mainland police.
