The 16-year-old youth, believed to be a member of the syndicate, was arrested on Friday when he met with a victim in Mong Kok. He will appear in Sha Tin Magistrates' Courts on Monday.

Police noticed a series of low-interest loan fraud cases between January and April, of which similar scamming tactics were used in 15 of them.

In these cases, fraudsters pretended to be bank staff when calling the victims, claiming that the bank could provide low-interest loans. After that, they referred the victims to a fake lawyer's office to process their loan applications and instructed them to pay a deposit in advance.

However, after receiving the deposit, the fraudsters would immediately disappear and the victims would not receive the loan.

“A total of 15 victims, 11 men and 4 women aged 23 to 68, were defrauded of HK$410,000 by the syndicate," senior inspector Chau Man-hin said on Sunday.

After investigations, officers identified a 16-year-old suspect who pretended to be an employee of a law firm and arrested him last Friday (April 1) when he was collecting another victim's deposit in Mong Kok.

Police said operations are underway and do not rule out more arrests.

They reminded the public to be careful when receiving calls from loan promoters and call the anti-scam helpline at 18222 if there is any doubt.

In addition, the police said parents should pay more attention to their children so that they won't be manipulated by criminals.