Cross-border money laundering syndicate 88 million Hong Kong dollar eight arrested

The Commercial Crime Bureau of the Hong Kong Police targeted a cross-border money laundering syndicate in November 2023. The investigation found that the syndicate solicited mainlanders to open puppet bank accounts in Hong Kong from September 2023 to March 2024, and defrauded victims through different types of scams, such as phone scams, naked chat scams, investment scams, job scams, etc. The victim deposited the fraudulent money into the puppet account controlled by the criminal group according to the instructions of the scammer. After that, the group would withdraw the fraudulent money in cash from the puppet account and go to the cryptocurrency over-the-counter exchange (OTC) to buy cryptocurrencies. At the same time, it would open an account on overseas cryptocurrency platforms with a false identity, and deposit the cryptocurrency purchased by the fraudulent money, and then transfer it to multiple cryptocurrency wallets to launder the proceeds of crime.
The police also alleged that the syndicate used 72 locally opened bank puppet accounts to launder more than HK $88 million of criminal proceeds, of which HK $6.70 million was related to 48 fraud cases. As of yesterday, the police have arrested seven men and one woman, aged between 26 and 51, in Hong Kong on suspicion of conspiracy to launder money. They reported that they were lifeguards, photographers, telephone programmers, salesmen and unemployed, of which six were key members and two were puppet account holders.