These 43 arrestees – 28 men and 15 women aged 17 to 75 – were arrested for obtaining property by deception and money laundering during police's operation “Skyrocket,” targeting online shopping and romance scams between October 20 and 26.

All arrestees were released on bail and must report to the police in early November.

Police said the arrestees were involved in 37 cases, with the amount of loss ranging from a few hundred dollars to HK$900,000 in each case.

In the online shopping scams, the fraudsters would seek the seller's bank account numbers and claim they could wire the money into the seller's account immediately. During the meet-up, the fraudsters would then deposit an invalid check into the check machine at the bank for a transaction record.

After the fraudster and the seller completed their deal, the seller was caught off-guard by the increased amount of the account ledger balance but later found the check couldn't be cashed in.

In other cases, the fraudsters would pretend to be the courier, collect the goods from the sellers, and disappear for good. It wasn't until a couple of days later that the sellers discovered they were cheated.

Police called on citizens to distinguish the available balance from the account ledger balance in their bank account and to save the contact of the buyers in case they need police assistance in the future. Sellers should also meet up with buyers in areas covered by security cameras.

Police encouraged citizens to report suspected crimes by dialing the anti-scam hotline 18222.

Police also warned money laundering is a serious offense, and the maximum penalty carries a HK$5 million fine and 14 years imprisonment.