269 arrested in 2-week scam crackdown; some posed as SF Express staff

Police have rounded up nearly 270 people over the past two weeks for suspected offences including fraud and money laundering.

Some posed as SF Express and Alipay customer service personnel.

The latest crackdown involved more than 200 scam cases and around 320 million dollars.

Officers raided two hotel rooms in Yuen Long and Tsuen Wan between late last month and this Wednesday, seizing communications devices and 163 SIM cards which were allegedly used to send nearly 2,000 phishing messages and linked to several phone scams involving about 570,000 dollars.

Scammers rented hotel rooms to set up the equipment and impersonated SF Express and Alipay customer service staff.

They sent messages and made calls claiming parcels had failed to be delivered or clients’ accounts had problems, tricking victims into sharing their personal and banking information.

Four local men, aged between 26 and 44, were arrested.

Police also busted a local crime group accused of using photo-editing software and AI tools to create fake images of Hong Kong identity cards then they allegedly used the fake identities to open bank and stored-value payment accounts and launder criminal proceeds.

Forty-two accounts were successfully opened, with 14 allegedly used for money laundering involving about 1.13 million dollars.

Fifteen people, aged between 18 and 57, were arrested.