Hong Kong police smashed a money laundering group using virtual asset exchange shops, involving a total amount of HK$118 million

Odaily Planet Daily reported that the Hong Kong police launched a code-named night raid operation to smash a money laundering border criminal group active in the Mainland and Hong Kong. The money laundering group recruited mainlanders to come to Hong Kong bank accounts to obtain benefits from fraud cases, and then arranged to withdraw money from banks and take the cash to virtual asset exchange shops to exchange for cryptocurrencies to launder money. During the operation, 12 men and women were arrested, involving criminal proceeds of 118 million Hong Kong dollars. Chief Inspector of the Fraud Investigation Team of the Commercial Crime Bureau of Hong Kong, Ms. Cha Lo Yuen-shan, said that between July 2024 and May 2025, criminal groups recruited mainlanders to come to Hong Kong as puppet account holders. The accounts were mainly used to receive proceeds from various types of fraud cases. During this period, 118 million yuan was laundered using more than 500 bank accounts. Of this, $10 million has been confirmed to be part of the criminal proceeds from 58 reported fraud cases, in which the victims lost approximately $43.2 million. (Hong Kong Commercial Daily)