Hong Kong United 9 regions crack down on cross-border fraud and money laundering, arresting over 3,000 people, with some illicit funds converted into stablecoins.

Deep Tide TechFlow News, May 21 — According to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government Press Release, Hong Kong police announced that they have jointly collaborated with law enforcement agencies from Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, and six other countries and regions to combat cross-border scams and money laundering activities. The operation took place from March 10 to May 7, resulting in the arrest of 3,018 individuals, over 138k scam cases, with total losses of approximately $752 million USD (about HKD 5.89 billion).

During the operation, law enforcement agencies froze a total of 101,989 bank accounts and successfully intercepted about $161 million USD (approximately HKD 1.26 billion), with Hong Kong police arresting 870 people and intercepting about HKD 539 million in funds. The largest case involved a Singaporean company defrauded of $36 million USD (about HKD 280 million), with the related funds subsequently flowing into multiple bank accounts in Hong Kong and other regions. About half of these funds were converted into stablecoins and dispersed into different virtual asset wallets. After police tracking, approximately $20 million USD was successfully frozen. Investigations show that scams involving virtual asset platforms for money laundering are on the rise, and regions need to continue enhancing their capabilities through intelligence sharing and cooperation mechanisms to better address crimes involving virtual assets.