Erin Chan
Police from Hong Kong and Singapore have arrested 41 people – including two foreign masterminds in the SAR – after rolling up a syndicate accused of running a HK$30 million cross-national jobs scam.
The ring allegedly conned victims in over 430 employment scams involving “brushing” – an e-commerce practice of generating fake sales to improve a seller’s prominence on shopping websites.
The two masterminds — a 35-year-old Filipina woman and a 28-year-old Pakistani man – are both Hong Kong identity card holders who have allegedly led the syndicate in 134 jobs scams in the SAR since January. Victims, aged between 16 and 56, were said to be cheated out of HK$9.1 million.
One victim, a nurse, claimed to have lost HK$950,000.
Of the 41 suspects, 12 men and two women aged 22 to 53 were rounded up in Hong Kong between June 15 and last Friday.
Another 27 suspects – 23 men and four women aged 16 to 53 – were arrested in Singapore, said senior inspector Cheung Tin-lok.
Cheung said the 27 suspects, responsible for handling the scam’s proceeds and selling bank accounts to the syndicate, were behind over 300 scams since May, netting HK$19 million.
The 14 Hong Kong suspects were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud and money laundering and were released on bail.
New Territories North senior inspector Fung Chun-tat said the syndicate published job listings with gimmicks such as “guaranteed quick cash.”
Once victims fell for the ads, they were instructed to make sporadic online purchases to boost certain shopping platforms’ sales records.
“In some cases, victims were told to download fraudulent mobile apps to make countless online purchases,” Fung said. “Scammers promised victims they would receive the principal and 5 to 12 percent of the profits after the transactions.”
He said the victims were then told to deposit money into the syndicate’s bank accounts, virtual bank accounts or stored value facilities.
“After the victims made the deposits, the scammers were out of reach,” Fung said.
He said three computers, 14 phones and 18 debit cards were seized in the Hong Kong operation.
Hong Kong police said 255 online jobs scams were recorded in the first five months of the year — four times higher than in the same period last year.
erin.chan@singtaonewscorp.com
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