TechFlow News, May 21: According to a press release from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government, Hong Kong police have joined forces with law enforcement agencies from nine countries and regions—including Singapore, South Korea, and Thailand—to combat cross-border fraud and money laundering. The operation took place from March 10 to May 7, resulting in the arrest of 3,018 suspects across over 138,000 fraud cases, with total losses amounting to approximately USD 752 million (HKD 5.89 billion).
During the operation, law enforcement authorities froze a total of 101,989 bank accounts and successfully intercepted approximately USD 161 million (HKD 1.26 billion) in fraudulent funds. Among these, Hong Kong police arrested 870 individuals and intercepted approximately HKD 539 million. The largest single case involved a Singaporean company defrauded of USD 36 million (HKD 280 million); the illicit funds were subsequently transferred into multiple bank accounts in Hong Kong and other jurisdictions. Roughly half of these funds were converted into stablecoins and dispersed across various virtual asset wallets. Through investigative tracing, police successfully froze USD 20 million of these funds. Investigations revealed an increasing trend of criminal syndicates using virtual asset platforms for money laundering, underscoring the need for continued intelligence sharing and collaborative mechanisms among jurisdictions to enhance capabilities in combating crimes involving virtual assets.
