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Two women cheated by romance scammers get five-month jail for money laundering
Two divorced women were on Tuesday jailed for five months for money laundering, after they were cheated by romance scammers and opened bank accounts for them.
Jobless Dutsanee Promma, 47, and clerk Tam Kai-wan, 51, were earlier convicted of money laundering at Kowloon City magistrates' courts. They were sentenced by deputy magistrate Paul Yip Shing-lam.
Promma conspired with a person called Kelvin Lee to handle about HK$420,000 in a Bank of China account between March 21 and November 28 in 2018, while Tam conspired with a person called Codecasa Riccardo and others to handle about HK$502,000 in a HSBC account between September 4 and November 15 in 2018.
The court was told earlier that under police caution, Promma said she met Lee on social media and they soon became a couple. Although she had never seen Lee, she opened a bank account, mailed the ATM card and transferred her salary to Lee as requested.
As for Tam, she said she met an American man Riccardo online and opened two bank accounts for him as instructed, one of which was later frozen.
When passing sentence, Yip said background reports have shown that the two live a simple life without any intention to commit wrongdoing and accepted that the two were victims of the romance scams themselves as well.
However, Yip pointed out that imprisonment is the only appropriate sentence and refused the defense's suggestion to suspend their sentences.
In mitigation, the defense referred to Promma's positive background reports and said she regretted committing the crime. Her former mother-in-law described her as naive and said she rarely socialized. She also suffered from a persistent depressive disorder and had stopped working since this year.
Promma's children said she is a good mother and were shocked by her crime, adding that she had probably trusted someone she shouldn't have.
As for Tam, the defense counsel said she is a woman with a sense of responsibility and has a stable job. The defense added Tam admitted she had made a mistake foolishly, and it is likely that she will lose her job due to the imprisonment.
The defense continued that Tam only hoped she could take care of her parents after serving the jail term.
The defense pointed out that the two didn't benefit from the money laundering, and it was not likely for them to commit the crime again, calling on the magistrate to suspend their sentences.
Yip believed the two would not commit similar wrongdoing in the future and gave them a warning. Considering that it took almost three years from making the arrests to proceeding to the trial, their jail term was reduced by a month to five-month imprisonment.
Promma conspired with a person called Kelvin Lee to handle about HK$420,000 in a Bank of China account between March 21 and November 28 in 2018, while Tam conspired with a person called Codecasa Riccardo and others to handle about HK$502,000 in a HSBC account between September 4 and November 15 in 2018.
The court was told earlier that under police caution, Promma said she met Lee on social media and they soon became a couple. Although she had never seen Lee, she opened a bank account, mailed the ATM card and transferred her salary to Lee as requested.
As for Tam, she said she met an American man Riccardo online and opened two bank accounts for him as instructed, one of which was later frozen.
When passing sentence, Yip said background reports have shown that the two live a simple life without any intention to commit wrongdoing and accepted that the two were victims of the romance scams themselves as well.
However, Yip pointed out that imprisonment is the only appropriate sentence and refused the defense's suggestion to suspend their sentences.
In mitigation, the defense referred to Promma's positive background reports and said she regretted committing the crime. Her former mother-in-law described her as naive and said she rarely socialized. She also suffered from a persistent depressive disorder and had stopped working since this year.
Promma's children said she is a good mother and were shocked by her crime, adding that she had probably trusted someone she shouldn't have.
As for Tam, the defense counsel said she is a woman with a sense of responsibility and has a stable job. The defense added Tam admitted she had made a mistake foolishly, and it is likely that she will lose her job due to the imprisonment.
The defense continued that Tam only hoped she could take care of her parents after serving the jail term.
The defense pointed out that the two didn't benefit from the money laundering, and it was not likely for them to commit the crime again, calling on the magistrate to suspend their sentences.
Yip believed the two would not commit similar wrongdoing in the future and gave them a warning. Considering that it took almost three years from making the arrests to proceeding to the trial, their jail term was reduced by a month to five-month imprisonment.
