Man arrested for cross-border loan advertisement scheme

The Judiciary Police (PJ) have detained a 65-year-old Hong Kong man identified as Wong, suspecting him of a large-scale fraud and money-laundering scheme involving fake online loans that defrauded victims out of at least RMB393,500 and MOP11,400.

At yesterday’s press conference, PJ spokesman Leng Kam Lon said the suspect “lured victims seeking loans on social media platforms” and then demanded “deposits” and “handling fees” via QR codes linked to mainland China accounts.

A local victim who reported the scam recounted seeing the Hong Kong and Macau loan advertisement on Aug. 8 on Facebook. On that day, he contacted the advertiser for the loan. Thereafter, the victim submitted his details and paid a “deposit” and “handling fees” to the advertiser. The male victim then made 25 QR code transfers totaling RMB292,000 to two mainland payment platforms.

In addition to the RMB292,000, he transferred MOP5,200 to a local bank account as instructed. Ultimately, the victim never received the loan and lost contact with the profile that posted the initial loan ad.

Police then traced Wong’s mainland accounts to these cases and prior online loan and expense-claim frauds that totaled over RMB100,000.

Wong was detained Wednesday at the Macau Port of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge on suspicion of fraud and money laundering. Authorities seized HKD 64,000 in cash and a phone found on him during the arrest.

Since then, Wong has refused to cooperate with questioning by the authorities.