TechFlow news, August 8 — According to Yahoo News, Hong Kong Customs recently cracked a case involving the use of virtual currencies to launder illicit funds, arresting four men. The suspects are accused of receiving substantial overseas cross-border remittances through multiple shell companies and laundering up to HK$1.5 billion in illegal proceeds via virtual currency transactions. All arrested individuals have been released on bail pending investigation, and approximately HK$2.2 million in assets within their bank accounts have been frozen.
Investigations revealed that between 2020 and 2022, the suspects received large sums of suspicious funds from overseas, some of which were linked to criminal activities abroad. Two of them established several shell companies in Hong Kong and transferred substantial amounts of money into over 30 accounts across seven banks, with individual transfers reaching as high as HK$23 million.
The syndicate fragmented transactions by splitting funds and transferring them into 180 third-party accounts. They hired a 31-year-old local man for a monthly fee of HK$70,000 to process around HK$300 million in illicit funds via virtual currency transactions. Preliminary findings indicate the related cross-border funds originated from South Korea.
