The police smashed a syndicate that cheated with low-interest loans and guess who I am, and arrested 11 men and 1 woman, aged between 15 and 34, including 3 students, and the “errands” responsible for collecting money from the victims. Involved in 95 deception cases, with a sum of about 4.5 million yuan; two air guns, hammers, iron bars, money counters and a small amount of suspected drugs were seized. The operation continues, and more arrests cannot be ruled out.
From January to October this year, the police noticed that a fraudulent group was active in Hong Kong, mainly by falsely claiming to provide low-interest loans or guessing who I am. Eleven men and one woman were arrested for conspiracy to defraud. A 17-year-old man was also suspected of possession of imitation firearms, possession of offensive weapons and possession of drugs. Among those arrested, 3 reported students, two were transport workers, one was a decoration worker, one was a cleaning worker, and the rest claimed to be unemployed; some had triad backgrounds.
In 81 low-interest loan scams, the swindlers pretended to be local bank staff and randomly dialed phone numbers to call the public, claiming that they could provide low-interest loans. When the victim expressed interest, the swindler would ask the victim to pay about one percent of the loan amount. Afterwards, he will pretend to be a bank or law firm employee to instruct the victim to deposit the money into a designated bank account, ranging from 10,000 to 270,000 yuan. When the security deposit is received, the scammer will lose contact. The victims ranged in age from 21 to 64, and the money involved was about 6.3 million yuan, with a single victim losing up to 270,000 yuan. As for the 14 cases of “Guess Who I Am”, many elders received phone calls from fraudsters pretending to be relatives and friends, asking for bail money. There were 14 victims, ranging in age from 56 to 89, and the money involved was about 1.1 million yuan.
The Police reiterate that conspiracy to defraud is a serious offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison; any property is dealt with in whole or in part, directly or indirectly on behalf of any person, in the proceeds of an indictable offence, with the knowledge or reasonable grounds for believing that, commits an offence and is liable to a fine of $5 million and imprisonment for 14 years.
Originally published on AM730 https://www.am730.com.hk/local/The police cracked the phone scam syndicate arrested 12 people involved 4.5 million yuan – 3 students were running errands to collect fraudulent money/342121?utm_source=yahoorss&utm_medium=referral