Hong Kong police have arrested seven people in a crackdown on a fraud syndicate accused of cheating 13 loan applicants, including a businessman and a professional, out of nearly HK$10 million (US$1.3 million) in four months. The force said on Friday the syndicate members posed as bank employees and cold-called their targets to offer loans with low interest rates between February and May.
The applicants were then referred to a financial intermediary company and arranged to meet scammers in an office, where they were coaxed into making advance payments to secure the loans, according to Senior Inspector Chan King-lok of the Wan Chai district crime squad. “[Fraudsters] invented various excuses such as surety, asset verification, the need to settle the victims’ existing debts or improving their credit ratings and lured the victims into making advance payments,” Chan said. “Some victims who could not afford these upfront payments were lured into borrowing money from finance companies or even mortgaging their own properties.
” According to police, the syndicate recruited people to set up a financial intermediary company, rent an office in Causeway Bay, open bank accounts and register SIM cards to collect money and make calls. The senior inspector said these fraudsters made the victims wait patiently for updates to cover their tracks while escaping. “By the time the victims discovered they had been swindled, the scammers had already vanished,” Chan said, adding the fraud.