Six locals and a woman from the mainland have been arrested for assisting a “guess who I am” fraud gang to launder money, Long Hon Wai, who heads the Judiciary Police (PJ) IT Crimes Division, said in a special press conference yesterday.
According to Long, the police received reports from three local residents in recent months, who fell victim to the “guess who I am” scam, collectively losing over 100,000 patacas.
The investigation revealed that the victims were transferring money to the fraudsters by scanning mobile payment e-wallet QR codes registered with overseas phone numbers. The police identified a total of 14 interconnected phone scams, involving 16 local victims, who suffered a total loss of 495,000 patacas.
Long noted that the money laundering operation was active from August 2023 to mid-2024 and involved four local family members surnamed Wong, aged between 36 and 55. According to Long, the Wongs received the scam proceeds by laundering funds through over 150 mobile e-wallet accounts to avoid detection by the police.
Since the money in the MPay wallet cannot be directly withdrawn as cash or deposited in bank accounts, the Wongs recruited the three other suspects—surnamed Chan, Wu, and Lam—to convert the ill-gotten funds into cash. Chan used money in the MPay wallets to purchase gold items for resale, while Lam, who runs a collection shop, used point-of-sale (pos) machines to launder the money as the shop’s revenue.
The laundered money was then transferred to bank accounts associated with the phone fraud gang, while the seven suspects received “commissions” ranging from thousands to 20,000 patacas.
The seven suspects were arrested on Monday and confessed to their involvement in the money-laundering scam. Long noted that the police also identified 31 potential victims. Thanks to timely warnings from the police, these individuals avoided any financial loss.
The quartet were transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) yesterday, facing money laundering and fraud charges, according to Long.
Long Hon Wai (centre), who heads the Judiciary Police (PJ) IT Crimes Division, addresses yesterday’s special conference, flanked by other PJ investigators in the press conference room. – Photo: William Chan
