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Written by: Zheng Qiuling
2021-06-21 00:01
Last update date: 2021-06-21 00:01
The Police Force separated the Wealth Investigation Team, Joint Wealth Intelligence Team and Headquarters (Wealth Investigation) from the Narcotics Investigation Division and formally integrated and upgraded them to the "Fortune Intelligence and Investigation Division" (FIIB) on June 1.
According to the police, there were 1,905 investigations of "money laundering" cases last year, with a freezing of 268 million yuan, a sharp increase of 49% from 2019, and an additional 113 million yuan confiscated.
The police are concerned about scam cases in recent years, in which scammers benefited by "borrowing accounts" or "selling accounts" to others.
In addition, for crowdfunding activities, the police claimed that crowdfunding itself is not illegal, but if the actual use is found to be inconsistent with the stated purpose, fraud, theft, etc., the processing of these funds is considered "money laundering."
Chief Superintendent of the Wealth Intelligence and Investigation Division, Lam Man-han (left), and Senior Superintendent, Cheng Liqi (right), urge citizens not to sell bank accounts.
(Photo by Zheng Qiuling)
127 million yuan confiscated last year
Senior Superintendent of Wealth Intelligence and Investigation Division Cheng Liqi said that the police investigated money laundering cases. There were 1,905 cases of money laundering last year, an increase of about 11.2% from 1,713 cases in 2019. There were more than 57,100 suspicious transaction reports last year, compared with 51,500 cases in 2019. Cases, an increase of about 10.7%.
There is an upward trend in the first five months of this year.
In terms of tracing the whereabouts of black money, Zheng Liqi said that last year’s restraining order involved 268 million yuan, a sharp increase of about 49% from the 180 million yuan in 2019; in addition, 127 million yuan was confiscated last year, which is also an increase from the 113 million yuan confiscated in 2019. About 12%.
Prisoners bought accounts for thousands of dollars to deal with 8.3 million scams
Cheng Liqi is particularly concerned about fraud cases in recent years. Some fraudsters have used the proceeds of crimes by "borrowing accounts" and "selling accounts" from others. The bank account holders concerned will also be arrested and prosecuted. This is in May this year. After cracking down on a criminal group related to job hunting scams, after providing thousands of dollars in commissions to account holders, they dealt with 8.3 million yuan in scams. criminal gang."
The purpose of crowdfunding does not match the claim or it is a fraud
A number of crowdfunding organizations related to the anti-amendment incident were arrested by the police on suspicion of money laundering.
The Chief Superintendent of the Wealth Intelligence and Investigation Division, Lin Minxian, said that crowdfunding itself is not against the law, and Hong Kong does not have specific laws governing it. However, if it is discovered that the income from fundraising does not match the stated purpose, fraud may be involved, such as privately. "Falling" of fund-raising funds for personal use or committing theft.
Lin Minxian continued that the use of fraud or theft of proceeds is considered money laundering, "not for crowdfunding, but for the same type of crime."
When asked about the number of cases, Lin Minxian said that there is no special statistics. In the past two years, several similar cases have been handled, and the number of cases involved in anti-amendment laws has not been classified. "It is not because of anti-amendment laws, it is because money laundering is illegal. She pointed out that there is currently no obvious fashion trend. "Anyway, if we receive a report, or if there is a report, we will do it."
The virtual bank account opening procedure is simply a loophole
Lin Minxian said that the level of money laundering risk in Hong Kong is medium to low, and the higher-risk crimes are mainly fraud and drug trafficking, which are similar to the situation in 2018. There is no emerging channel with high risk for the time being and will be closely monitored.
The department is preparing to upgrade the suspicious transaction report management system, improve manual handling of problems, and strengthen analysis through artificial intelligence and big data.
Virtual assets are becoming more common. Lin Minxian pointed out that he has noticed cases of money laundering using virtual assets. Because the account opening procedures of virtual banks and stored value platforms are simple, there is no need to go to the bank for personal authentication. Some people take the opportunity to forge information to open an account and resell the account.
As for the use of virtual currency to launder money, Lin Minxian said that it involves virtual currency, which is common in online blackmail cases, and the recent rise in the price of virtual currency has led to related investment fraud.
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