In order to relieve the operating pressure of SMEs affected by the epidemic, the government launched the "100% Guaranteed Preferential Loan" scheme. Unexpectedly, criminals took advantage of it.
There are fraudulent groups that falsely report or exaggerate the number of employees and falsify operational reports in order to defraud higher government loans.
Among them, some companies have only 2 employees, and the monthly turnover is only 10,000 yuan, but they report that the company's total salary for 12 months needs to spend 6 million yuan, that is, the monthly salary of each employee is as high as 250,000 yuan; there are also shell companies that have obtained After 5 million yuan loan, it is used to buy luxury goods.
After an in-depth investigation, the police launched an operation code-named "Jack Building" from July 19 to 27, arresting 12 men and 6 women on suspicion of "conspiracy to defraud" and "money laundering", involving a total amount of 190 million yuan.
Police have frozen assets of $22 million and believe the operation has successfully dismantled a number of organised crime groups.
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Superintendent Ye Yonglin of the Commercial Crime Investigation Division summed up the police’s 4 operations against government loan fraud since last year. A total of 11 cases were detected, involving a total amount of 1.4 billion yuan, and 127 people, 92 men and 35 women, were arrested. Those arrested include the head of the company group, company directors, suspicious employees, bank staff and MPB trustee staff.
In the fourth wave of operations from July 19 to 27, the police arrested 12 men and 6 women, involving a total of 193 million yuan.
Senior Inspector Mak Wai-kwong explained the case, in response to the impact of the epidemic, the government launched the "100% Guaranteed Preferential Loan Scheme" in 2020, and applications were accepted on April 20 of the same year.
The SMEs applying must operate in Hong Kong for at least 3 months before March 31, 2022, and the monthly performance during the specified period has dropped by at least 30% compared with the previous quarter. Each company can borrow the sum of employee salaries and rent for 27 months. The maximum amount is 9 million yuan.
Use shell companies to defraud loans to buy watches and luxury goods
Mai Weiguang said that fraudulent groups mainly have two types of criminal methods. The first is to use shell companies with no actual business.
The fraudulent syndicate will buy a shell company from the secretarial company, then falsely report that the syndicate members and others are shadow employees of the company, and register an MPF account with the MPB trustee in order to obtain MPF contribution records. There are many construction companies. Staff illusion.
The police also discovered that there were shell companies that did not register with the MPB trustee and directly forged their contribution records.
The fraudulent group used false payroll records and other forged documents, including forged operational reports, to apply for "100% guaranteed preferential loans" from banks.
After the bank approves the loan, it will be guaranteed by Hong Kong Securities Insurance Company Limited.
The police conducted a wealth investigation and found that after obtaining the loan, the directors of the company did not use it to support the operation of the company, but transferred it to a bank account under their own name to buy luxury goods. One of the company received a loan of 5 million yuan. , but more than half of the loans were used to buy famous watches, which completely violated the original intention of the government to introduce preferential loans.
Members of the criminal group have a mafia background
The police also revealed that one of the criminal syndicates consisted of at least nine shell companies, some of whom had underworld backgrounds.
These companies reported that they had different businesses, including decoration, computer equipment, clothing retail and tea, etc. After they obtained loans, they transferred funds to each other, and the relevant funds would eventually flow into the accounts of the group's head.
Police found that these companies share a common business address or that the same employee reported to work in different shell companies, all signs of the existence of the same criminal group.
Fraudsters inflated employee salaries by 250,000 yuan
Senior Inspector Feng Yunhe pointed out that the second type of crime involved companies with actual operations, forging documents when submitting loan applications, exaggerating the number and salaries of current employees, in order to apply for higher loan amounts.
One of the companies only had 2 employees when applying for a loan from the bank, and the monthly turnover in 2020 was only 10,000 yuan, but it reported that the company’s total salary for 12 months would cost 6 million yuan, which means that the monthly salary of each employee is as high as 10,000 yuan. 250,000 yuan.
The police also found that some companies used the information of employees or former employees who have left Hong Kong for many years to open MPF accounts without their knowledge, and falsely claimed to MPF trustees and banks that the employees were still working in the company, thus exaggerating the number of employees and salaries Spend the total amount and get more loan amount.
From July 19th to 27th, the police carried out the "Strike Building" operation. They searched 35 companies involved, the residences and offices of the arrested persons, and the secretarial company that provided secretarial services for the companies involved, and seized employee records and bank documents of the companies involved. and electronic equipment, freeze the bank accounts of many arrested persons, and conduct wealth investigations on the property assets of some of the arrested persons, involving a total of 22 million yuan.
The police actively communicated with relevant institutions and banks, and found that at least three suspicious companies were applying for loans, involving a total amount of 13.8 million yuan. The police had stopped the applications because they believed that the companies had close contact with the arrested persons.
The police believe that this arrest operation has successfully dismantled a number of organized crime groups, but the operation continues, and more arrests cannot be ruled out.
Mo Ailan, vice president of Hong Kong Securities Insurance Co., Ltd., said that as of the end of July this year, a total of 53,000 applications for the "100% Guaranteed Preferential Loan" program had been approved, with a loan amount of 99 billion yuan, benefiting 32,000 enterprises and 345,000 people. Staff.
Mo Ailan pointed out that in order to make good use of public funds and ensure that the measures can benefit enterprises in real need, participating banks will conduct customer due diligence on loan applications to assess whether the applications are eligible. Make appropriate checks.
The Securities Insurance Company Limited will maintain communication with the banking industry and law enforcement agencies to analyze the characteristics and handling methods of suspicious cases, and strengthen the approval of some applications as necessary, such as suspected false documents, inconsistent submitted information, and the use of third parties for applications. We will continue to cooperate with the work of law enforcement agencies, and report suspected illegal acts to law enforcement agencies.
Uh, 100% guaranteed preferential loans involved 285 million yuan, 38 people were arrested, some falsely claimed that 22 companies were involved in defrauding groups, and uh, 140 million yuan in "100% guaranteed preferential loans", 56 people were detained, 40,000 people were "100% guaranteed loans" "Special Loan" applications approved for loans amounted to 65.7 billion yuan
