458 Persons Arrested in Hong Kong Over $60M Crypto-related Scams

The police in Hong Kong have arrested 458 people from 314 cases involving money laundering of almost $60 million. According to reports, about $15 million of the total amount was via cash withdrawals and cryptocurrency transactions.

A recent report showed that the arrested victims were involved in different financial crimes, cutting across online shopping, job hunting, investment, phone calls, and online love scams.

According to the police in Hong Kong, some money laundering syndicates lured some members of the public to sell their bank accounts for between $40 to $200 and used the accounts to launder criminal proceeds from different scams.

The authorities noted that in eight months, spanning October last year to June this year, the criminal syndicate laundered up to $15 million through cash withdrawals and cryptocurrencies.

Other discoveries made by the Hong Kong police include a puppet account controlled by triad members. Reportedly, the puppet account received more than $27 million in proceeds from suspected illegal bets between January last year to February this year. One of the accounts was used to receive funds from an online shopping scam involving 40 victims.

Those arrested by the police include 330 males and 128 females aged between 15 and 82 years. The police noted that some arrested persons were also victims of online dating or job-hunting scams. The victims claimed they mistrusted online characters and handed over sensitive information to them.

The police added that some members of the syndicate in their custody were found to have invited some of the arrested persons with the promise of helping them to receive bank cash rebates. They were tricked into handing over copies of their ID cards, taking selfies with their mobile phones, and helping them open virtual bank accounts in private for money laundering.