Hong Kong Police Bust Money Laundering Syndicate Through Virtual Asset Exchange Shop, Involving HK$118 Million

BlockBeats News, May 17th. According to The Hong Kong Business Times, the Hong Kong police carried out an operation codenamed "Night Raid" to dismantle an active cross-border money laundering group operating in Mainland China and Hong Kong. The money laundering group recruited Mainland Chinese individuals to open bank accounts in Hong Kong to receive proceeds from fraud cases, which were then withdrawn from the bank and taken to a virtual asset exchange store to convert into cryptocurrency for money laundering. During the operation, 12 men and women were arrested, involving HK$118 million in criminal proceeds.

Chief Inspector Law Yuen-san of the Hong Kong Commercial Crime Bureau's Fraud Investigation Team stated that from July 2024 to May 2025, the criminal group recruited Mainland Chinese individuals to act as puppet account holders in Hong Kong. These accounts were primarily used to receive proceeds from various types of fraud cases. During this period, over 500 bank accounts were used to launder HK$118 million. Of this amount, HK$10 million has been confirmed to be part of the proceeds from 58 reported fraud cases, with victims in these 58 cases losing approximately HK$43.2 million.