Hong Kong authorities have made 458 arrests for alleged involvement in money laundering and related crimes.

The arrests were first made known to Twitter through crypto reporter Wu Blockchain:

The confiscated illicit funds, totaling around about $60 million USD equivalent, are believed to stem from 314 criminal cases spanning online shopping, job scams, investments, phone fraud, and online romance scams.

During this operation, authorities successfully intercepted over around $2 million USD equivalent in criminal gains.

Authorities have disclosed that money laundering syndicates have been enticing both local and foreign individuals to sell their bank accounts for sums ranging from USD 35 to HKD 1500.

These accounts are then exploited to launder proceeds from various scams.

Activties of the Criminal Syndicate

Between October of last year and June of this year, the syndicates are suspected to have laundered up to approximately $14 million USD equivalent through cash withdrawals and trading of cryptocurrencies.

It has also come to light that puppet accounts controlled by underworld figures were involved.

From January of last year to February of this year, these accounts received around $2.5 million USD equivalent in suspected illegal betting, with one account linked to a case of online shopping fraud affecting 40 victims.

The arrested individuals include 330 men and 128 women, aged between 15 and 82.

Authorities note that some of these individuals were themselves victims of online romance or job scams.

They are believed to have fallen for false lovers, deceptive employers, or fraudulent job advertisements, leading them to disclose their online banking credentials.

Some even sent their bank cards abroad to other syndicate members.

In addition, certain arrested individuals were lured by syndicate members who promised to assist them in claiming cash rebates from banks.

These victims were coerced into surrendering their IDs and taking selfies with their phones, which were then used to surreptitiously open virtual bank accounts for money laundering purposes.

Coinlive previously reported that how in a similar move, Singapore authorities seized over $700 million in asset seizures over allegations of money laundering.