Hong Kong police smashed a local fraud group and arrested 27 people. They were suspected of defrauding many local and overseas victims during the operation of about one year, with a total amount of defrauded up to 360 million yuan.
New Territories South Regional Criminal Headquarters Superintendent Yao Yongqin said that the police received intelligence about the fraud group in August this year. After two months of investigation, the location of its operation center and the identity of the group members were locked. On the 9th of this month, an arrest operation codenamed "Code Word" was carried out, mobilizing more than 100 detectives from the New Territories South Regional Criminal Department, and the Cyber Security and Technology Crime Bureau assisted in the collection of evidence related to network and cryptocurrency transactions.
Yao Yongqin described the fraud group as highly secretive, with strict security outside the unit, and also required the victims to trade in more private cryptocurrency without involving any bank accounts, which increased the difficulty of the police in tracking down the proceeds of the crime. However, after this arrest operation, the police believe that they have successfully dismantled the large and highly organized fraud group.
He also pointed out that the fraud group mainly uses online romance to lure victims into investing in cryptocurrency and defraud money. Therefore, the group will hire technology professionals, including graduates majoring in digital media from local universities, for technical support, and also work with overseas fraudsters to build a fake cryptocurrency platform. (Hong Kong 01)