Hong Kong police have highlighted a new ruse adopted by a money laundering syndicate that offers fake poverty relief incentives to trick elderly people, then uses their faces in a pretense of photo-taking to set up bank accounts to handle illegal funds.
The force revealed this tactic after arresting eight people in a crackdown on a local racket that swindled more than 10 elderly residents in July and August by offering them HK$1,500 (US$192) each from so-called kind-hearted donors.
A source familiar with the matter said on Thursday that police investigations were still ongoing to determine the extent of the scam’s impact on other residents.
“We believe the bank accounts [identified in the operation] have yet to be used for illicit activities,” the insider said.
He said the syndicate was allegedly operated by three suspected triad members who recruited five elderly women to hunt for victims.
“A preliminary investigation suggested the five were paid HK$500 to HK$1,500 to find a target,” the source said.
According to police, the syndicate handed out fliers with the message “Good news for poverty alleviation, donations given” to elderly residents in the Kowloon West region, in districts such as Sham Shui Po and Yau Ma Tei, over the past two months.
“The victims were told that kind-hearted individuals were willing to donate money to alleviate poverty, offering HK$1,500 to those aged above 65,” the source said.
He said the victims were instructed to bring identity cards and proofs of their addresses to a flat on Shanghai Street in Yau Ma Tei to collect the fake “donations”.
After collecting their documents on the premises, syndicate members told victims they would need to have their photos taken with mobile phones. But their faces were in fact being used to get past facial recognition security tests required to set up bank accounts.
Police said each of the victims was given HK$1,500 as promised before they left the premises.
The scheme came to light when two of the victims filed reports to police last Friday.
After gathering evidence, detectives from the Kowloon West regional crime unit arrested three men and five elderly women in a series of raids across the city on Tuesday.
The three men, who were the alleged ringleader and core members with triad backgrounds, were apprehended in a Shanghai Street flat on Tuesday night.
The source said two other elderly people were in the flat at the time of the raid, but they were potential victims being lured into setting up bank accounts.
Inside the flat, police seized about HK$50,000 in cash, 28 mobile phones, bank documents and proofs of addresses belonging to the victims, as well as fliers advertising the scheme.
Police arrested the three men and five women on suspicion of conspiring to launder illicit money – an offence punishable by up to 14 years in jail and a HK$5 million fine.
As of Thursday afternoon, all the suspects were still being held for questioning.
Acting Chief Inspector Wu Wing-ka of the Kowloon West regional crime unit urged the public to remain vigilant and to educate elderly family members about the dangers of sharing personal information, especially in exchange for seemingly easy money.
Another source said criminal gangs were inventing new tactics to fish for potential victims because police had taken more stringent action against those who lent or sold personal bank accounts for money laundering in recent years.
Latest police figures show the number of holders of stooge accounts arrested for money laundering offences surged to 4,465 in the first half of 2024, up from 977 over the same period in 2021.
Stooge account holders are those who loan or sell their bank accounts to syndicates to collect scammed money and launder crime proceeds in exchange for thousands of Hong Kong dollars.
