The Customs established the Money Service Investigation Section in September 2009 to crack down on unlicensed money service operators. According to the latest Customs report, 50 related cases have been detected so far. From April to October this year, 17 cases have been detected, an increase of 21% compared with the same period last year.
Zhang Tianhao, Commander of the Money Service Investigation Section of the Customs Money Service Supervision Division, pointed out that under the epidemic, the flow of tourists and outbound tourists has decreased, and nearly half of the physical money-changing shops in Hong Kong have closed down one after another. license to operate money services.
At the same time, the people involved in operating unlicensed money services are getting younger and younger. All the people arrested this year involved in online unlicensed remittance cases were under the age of 30. Choose a licensed operator, and do not sell your bank account to others to avoid being charged with money laundering and falling into the law by mistake.
In the first ten months of this year, 21 convictions for operating money services without a license increased by 1.5 times
The number of cases of Customs cracking down on unlicensed money services and successful prosecutions has risen sharply. As of October this year, 21 cases have been convicted, an increase of 1.5 times compared to 2021, and three times more than in 2019.
It is worth noting that the persons involved in the case of unlicensed money service operators tend to be younger.
He Yuming, Chief Trade Control Officer of the Money Service Supervision Division and Director of the License Control Division, pointed out that the proportion of persons under the age of 30 involved will increase significantly from 10% in 2021 to 30% in 2022, while the proportion of persons involved in cases aged 40 or above will show a downward trend.
At the same time, the Investigation Section of the Money Service Supervision Division found after integrating the data that all the people involved in the cases under the age of 30 in 2022 were all unlicensed online remittance cases, which is believed to be related to the change of unlicensed money service channels from traditional ground floor transactions to online transactions , resulting in younger persons involved.
Under the epidemic, unlicensed money service operations shifted to the Internet from April to October, and the number of cases increased by 21% year-on-year
The Customs Money Services Investigation Division was established in September 2020. So far, 50 cases of operating money services without a license have been detected. Rise two into one.
Zhang Tianhao, Commander of the Money Service Investigation Section of the Customs Money Service Supervision Division, pointed out that under the epidemic, the flow of tourists and outbound tourists has decreased, and nearly half of the physical money exchange shops in Hong Kong have closed down one after another. license to operate money services.
Customs pointed out that the historical maximum penalty for operating money services without a license is 2 months’ imprisonment, suspended for 2 years. Although most cases are fined, the historical maximum fine is HK$72,000 for a single case. In addition to fines, there are also Some defendants were sentenced to community service orders ranging from 80 to 160 hours. Zhang Tianhao pointed out that he will pay close attention to the latest situation and adjust law enforcement strategies in a timely manner. industry.
Tips on avoiding money laundering traps
1. Remind the public to be more careful when using social networking or trading platforms for purchase and payment activities on behalf of others. Do not conduct unlicensed remittance activities on behalf of others, including recharging non-local e-wallets.
2. Customs also found that some citizens were deceived by criminals to defraud their personal information, including ID card photos, while visiting unlicensed money service operators online, and criminals used their personal data to open payment platform accounts to carry out criminal activities.
3. The public is urged to patronize licensed money service operators. If in doubt, they can go to the customs website to verify the license status of the service provider.
Finally, the Customs also reminds the public to keep their personal data well, raise their safety awareness, and refrain from easily providing personal data to third parties or allowing others to use their bank accounts.
The person in charge of two barbecue sites in Jiuhua Avenue admitted to operating without a license and was sentenced to probation and fined 40,000 "Shop" and "Mila" have repeatedly operated without a license. The restaurant has to be closed for two weeks. The public entertainment place in Kwun Tong did not properly display the safe travel and was fined to suspend business for 14 days and was charged with operating without a license.
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