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Saturday, Feb 22, 2025
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116 mainlanders lose $236m in con
Over 100 mainland investors were conned out of HK$236 million in a cross-boundary London gold scam that saw seven locals arrested.
The seven - five men and two women aged 35 to 76 -were held for conspiracy to defraud and money laundering on Monday. They were still being detained as of last night.
They are said to be members of a syndicate that include heads and CEOs of a local finance firm and a mainland asset management company, as well as bank account holders.
The scams took place between 2013 and 2018, during which 116 mainlanders were cheated, chief inspector Luk Chun-chung said.
Worse hit was a company manager in his 60s who lost up to HK$13 million in two years.
The syndicate hired the asset management company as a middleman for investment seminars in the mainland.
"The seminars touted London gold investment schemes, claiming they were low risk and high reward," Luk said.
Police seized computers, phones, bank records, documents and HK$830,000 in cash when they raided the finance company's Central and Cheung Sha Wan offices and froze HK$77 million in the suspects' bank accounts.
They are said to be members of a syndicate that include heads and CEOs of a local finance firm and a mainland asset management company, as well as bank account holders.
The scams took place between 2013 and 2018, during which 116 mainlanders were cheated, chief inspector Luk Chun-chung said.
Worse hit was a company manager in his 60s who lost up to HK$13 million in two years.
The syndicate hired the asset management company as a middleman for investment seminars in the mainland.
"The seminars touted London gold investment schemes, claiming they were low risk and high reward," Luk said.
Police seized computers, phones, bank records, documents and HK$830,000 in cash when they raided the finance company's Central and Cheung Sha Wan offices and froze HK$77 million in the suspects' bank accounts.
