According to officers, the operation codenamed “Powerstaff” was mounted in May this year and they soon targeted a money laundering syndicate located in San Po Kong.

The criminals used a company that offered remittance service to cover their crime. They offered normal services while laundering the money they cheated from scams at the same time.

After investigation, police arrested eight men and three women in the San Po Kong company and across the city. The arrestees, aged 23 to 57, included the mastermind and three members of the syndicate, and seven persons who held the stooge accounts. They were arrested for money laundering.

In the operation, officers also seized 104 checkbooks that belonged to 64 other persons, as well as laptops, phones, PIN-protected security devices and bank statements.

Police said the arrestees used a total of 76 stooge accounts to launder about HK$220 million. Part of the crime proceeding came from 18 scams involving 11 men and 11 women that took place in the city, totaling to HK$61 million.

Officers pointed out that a total of 735 reports on telephone scams were received in the first nine months this year, and over 100 victims were mainland students who studied in Hong Kong. They may have fallen victim to the scams because they seldom keep an eye on news about telephone scams in the city, officers noted.

Police called on the public not to offer any confidential information including passwords of bank accounts to fraudsters who claimed they were law enforcement agencies.