Two mainlanders’ bank accounts have been frozen after separately exchanging Hong Kong dollars into yuan with the help of an illegal currency exchange dealer last week, reporting their respective losses of HK$130,000 and HK$258,000 to the police, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Ho Chan Nam said in a press conference yesterday.
According to the male victims’ separate reports, both of their bank accounts were frozen by the mainland police after they had exchanged the money with the help of a 36-year-old mainland man surnamed Huang. As the victims suspected that the funds they had received from Huang through the currency exchange deals were actually dirty money, the duo reported their cases to the Judiciary Police.
Huang was arrested by on Saturday when he was about to leave Macau via the Barrier Gate checkpoint.
Under questioning, Huang admitted to exchanging money with the two victims and following “someone’s” instructions to take the cash to a shop in the city centre and hand it over to a man surnamed Wang. For each transaction, Huang received one percent of the exchange amount as a reward, plus 700 yuan as a “transportation fee”.
The police soon apprehended Wang, a 49-year-old Hong Kong man, at his shop. He admitted to receiving HK$30,000 for purchasing virtual currency for Huang through the “dirty money” transfer.
The Judiciary Police have transferred the duo to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP), where they face fraud and money laundering charges.
Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Ho Chan Nam looks on during yesterday’s press conference.
– Photo: William Chan
