Hong Kong police have rounded up 119 people in a two-week operation against triad-controlled drug, sex and gambling businesses, as well as fraud activities. The force said on Monday eight of the suspects were alleged members of a fraud syndicate who used fake banknotes to swindle six residents out of HK$2 million (US$256,142) worth of high-end products between March and July. The victims were approached when they tried to sell items such as luxury watches and wine bottles through various online platforms, according to Senior Inspector Thomas Anthony Lo of the force’s Hong Kong Island regional anti-triad squad.
Lo said members of the triad-run syndicate arranged face-to-face transactions in a bid to lower the victims’ guard. “During the meetings, swindlers posing as an appraiser and a buyer claimed the need to take the goods for appraisal and then distracted the victims by showing a bundle of ‘cash’ wrapped in a transparent plastic bag,” he said. The fraudsters took the valuables but left the bag of “cash” behind.
Lo said the victims realised they were scammed when they discovered only the top and the bottom notes were authentic. The rest were bogus, or training, notes, with three Chinese characters meaning “practice coupon” printed on them. The training notes look genuine aside from the three Chinese characters printed on them.
They bear no security features such as a watermark and are said to be used by mainland Chinese bank staff for training and countin.