Two victims paid $ 8 million at fake money changers, police arrested four, and seized large quantities of $ 1,000 counterfeit banknotes

Burst

Written by: Peng Kaixin and Yu Ruijing

2020-01-17 16:00

A recent investigation by the police found that illegal persons were operating counterfeit money exchange shops and manufacturing counterfeit banknotes, so the arrest operation was launched. Four persons were suspected of manufacturing counterfeit banknotes and obtaining property by deception, and seized a large number of counterfeit 1,000 yuan banknotes.

He Enjie, a senior inspector of the Commercial Crime Bureau, said that there were two victims in the case and a total loss of about 8 million Hong Kong dollars. On November 7 last year and January 3 this year, the two victims respectively arrived at two money changers in Sham Shui Po and Mong Kok to exchange large amounts of RMB for Hong Kong dollars. According to the instructions of the staff, they exchanged about 2.6 million RMB and about 4.5 million yuan were deposited into two designated Mainland bank accounts, but the clerk was unable to deliver the corresponding Hong Kong dollar with different excuses. The victim suspected that he had been deceived and called for help.

The police inspected a large number of $ 1000 counterfeit banknotes, some of which were printed with the words "exercise coupons." (Photo by Yu Ruijing)

The police intervened and found that the two money changers did not hold valid money operator service licenses, and the business registration certificate and money dealer service licenses in the stores were counterfeit. In the Yuan, commonly known as "exercise coupons", 2600 counterfeit banknotes of the same type were found in the Sham Shui Po change shop. Police arrested two men and a woman, a 36-year-old local woman named Huang, a 26-year-old Chinese mainland man, and a 38-year-old male. The surname is Huang, a local man. The roles of the three are to exchange staff and introduce the victim to the money exchange to conduct transactions.

Police arrest 28-year-old key member of the group

Police investigations revealed that money changers would show the victims counterfeit banknotes to show that they were able to complete large transactions, thus gaining trust. The two money changers were operated by the same fraud group. After thorough investigation, the police locked a 28-year-old local The man is a key member. The police arrested him at the man's Changshawan residence this morning (17th), and seized counterfeit banknote manufacturing tools, 331 1,000 yuan counterfeit banknotes, a large number of semi-manufactured counterfeit banknotes, counterfeit business registration certificates, and a metal. Telescopic sticks and so on. The arrested man is being detained for investigation on charges of "obtaining property by deception", "making counterfeit banknotes", "possessing forged documents" and "possessing offensive weapons". The police are still investigating the case and do not rule out more arrests.

The counterfeit banknotes seized in the case were of low quality and had no anti-counterfeiting function. (Photo by Yu Ruijing)

The counterfeit banknotes seized in the case were very inferior and did not have anti-counterfeiting functions. Some even printed the words "exercise coupons". It is easy to distinguish the authenticity by careful attention. Police said that the addresses of the two money changers did not match the business registration addresses, and one of them began operation in April 2019. The two money changers did not work as normal money changers. They did not accept street visitors. They only accepted guests introduced by members of the group and attracted guests at preferential rates. In the process, the guests were not exposed to counterfeit banknotes, and the victims knew through a new acquaintance. Money changers exist.

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Counterfeit money