Hong Kong police cracked a virtual-currency “gold grain money laundering” fraud case, with about HK$7 million involved

ME News, April 26 (UTC+8), Hong Kong police disclosed the investigation and cracking of a cross-border telephone fraud case. The criminal syndicate impersonated mainland officials and specifically carried out scams targeting mainland students studying in the UK and Australia.

The scammers falsely claimed that the victims were involved in criminal cases such as money laundering, and asked them to “cooperate with the investigation.” They then went to Hong Kong and, in multiple rounds, purchased gold grains at jewelry stores as “deposits,” with each transaction amount not exceeding HK$120k to evade the gold shop registration system. Afterwards, group members collected the gold and transferred the stolen goods. The gold grains were later melted into gold bars or exchanged for cash and virtual currencies.

Police have so far received 7 related cases, involving about HK$7 million. The highest loss in a single case reached HK$1.6 million. (Source: ChainCatcher)