Joint operation nets 12 Mainland fraudsters

A tri-partite operation mounted by the Commercial Crime Bureau of the Hong Kong Police, the Guangdong Economic Crime Investigation Department (ECID), and the Macau Police had successfully neutralized a cross-border deception syndicate targeting at Hong Kong and Macau citizens.

It was revealed that the victims had received telephone calls from a Mainland company, which allegedly appointed the victims as the sole distributor for silk or nylon products.

A few days later, someone who claimed to be a potential buyer approached the victims and offered a high purchase price looking for the said products.

Attracted by the high profit margin, the victims contacted and placed orders with the Mainland company.

When the transaction was completed in Guangzhou with payment made in cash, the victims later discovered that the value of the product was much lower than its intended value. The first potential buyer also did not turn up again.

Hong Kong Police received a total of 24 reports since November 2005 in which seven victims were defrauded of a sum of HK$1.12 million.

The information and intelligence was passed to Guangdong ECID and a joint operation was mounted with Guangdong and Macau in July 2006.

A gang of 12 Mainlanders operating from Hubei and Guangdong were arrested by Guangdong ECID. Nine of them are being detained for further investigation.


Police Report No. 4

Issued by PPRB

End/Thursday, October 19, 2006