PJ arrest four scammers in HKD530,000 fraud case

The Judiciary Police (PJ) uncovered a huge financial fraud case and arrested four suspects, as announced in a press conference.

Two mainland victims in the case have lost a total of HKD540,000. The first suspect is a 56-year-old male Hong Kong unemployed resident, while the remaining three suspects are unemployed residents from the mainland, aged between 56 and 63 years old.

The first victim met the first suspect through being introduced by friend in the mainland in August 2019. The suspect, claiming to be a Hong Kong bank manager, claimed that he could help the victim’s mainland company to obtain a loan from a Hong Kong bank. 

In November that same year, the suspect contacted the victim to inform them that the loan had been approved by the Hong Kong bank. The suspect said that the victim was required to go to Hong Kong to sign the loan agreement, but that progress on the transaction was on hold due to the pandemic.

The suspect claimed that the bank could approve a loan amount of MOP30 million to the victim, on the condition that the victim open a HKD2.4 million bank account in Macau for the cost of capital verification (a review of the Macau bank account opened by the victim).  

The suspect said that he could help the victim fundraise to open the bank account but needed the victim to give him a total of HKD600,000 in remuneration. 

The victim went to Macau to open the bank account and met the second and third suspects on March 16. 

On March 18, the victim and the three suspects went to the bank. The first suspect deposited a pre-opened check of HKD730,000 into the victim’s account, being the cost of the second suspect’s assistance in helping the victim open a bank account, and required the victim to pay the remuneration.

However, the victim did not have enough money and paid HKD530,000 only. 

The suspect then told the victim that the other cost of capital verification would be deposited into the bank account that same day, and met the victim that afternoon to continue with the loan formalities.

Afterwards, the victim was unable to contact the three suspects and was informed by the bank staff that the check of HKD730,000 was in Hong Kong currency. As such, the money would be deposited into the bank account next day. 

The victim realized they had been cheated and reported the scam to the PJ.

During the inspection, it was found that the check of HKD730,000 could not be cashed. 

The three suspects entered Macau on August 7 and were intercepted at a hotel by the PJ. 

Investigations revealed that the three suspects intended to use the same method to deceive a second victim. 

The second victim had not completed payment to the suspects because the fraudulent arrangements were detected by the PJ. Earlier, however, the second victim had paid RMB7,800 to the suspects through an online transfer for the cost of the loan. 

The PJ said the four suspects are part of a fraudulent group that commits crimes by purporting to help with financing loans, and all suspects have been transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office and charged with the offences of fraud, falsification of documents of significant value and employment and criminal syndication, among others. Staff Reporter