Earlier, a digital bank discovered that when some people used the bank’s mobile application to conduct online financial management, when the bank asked the customer to perform real-time facial recognition verification, the customer would use pre-recorded videos to control the account.
The banking industry immediately notified law enforcement agencies through the reporting mechanism. Investigations revealed that 184 bank accounts at six banks had been operated using this method. These accounts laundered a total of $274 million in suspected criminal proceeds between December 2024 and August 2025. This included over $47 million in proceeds from 337 local and overseas fraud cases.
The investigation found that the criminal group would first recruit people from the mainland to Hong Kong, use their personal information to open bank accounts in digital banks, and become puppet accounts. The group would then ask the relevant people to shoot a short selfie video. The group would then transfer these short videos and related bank account information to accomplices in the mainland, who would control these puppet accounts in the mainland to launder money and transfer criminal proceeds.
After discovering this new criminal method, law enforcement agencies and the HKMA immediately contacted the banking industry to issue a warning, advising banks to strengthen various preventive and detection measures. The banking industry promptly implemented several new arrangements to disrupt the illegal activities. On the 14th and 15th, Hong Kong law enforcement agencies, in collaboration with mainland police, launched an operation codenamed "Roaring Thunder," successfully arresting three core syndicate members in Hong Kong and mainland China. Among them, Hong Kong law enforcement officers arrested a local man outside a hotel in North Point on suspicion of "conspiracy to deal in property known or believed to represent the proceeds of an indictable offence" (commonly known as "money laundering"). The man, surnamed Lu (32), reported working in the daigou (daigou) industry and is believed to be a core member of the syndicate. He and mainland syndicate members would recruit people from the mainland to Hong Kong and then arrange for them to open accounts remotely in digital banks in exchange for a fee. Police officers subsequently searched the arrested individuals' hotel rooms and seized five mobile phones, on which they discovered several videos suspected to be selfies taken by the so-called "dummy" account holders. The arrested man also used 16 of his bank accounts to launder suspected criminal proceeds totaling $54 million between January 2024 and July 2025. He has been provisionally charged with three counts of money laundering and will appear in the Eastern District Court this morning (16th).
At the same time, mainland police also carried out an arrest operation in Shenzhen City, successfully arresting two mainlanders (aged 41 and 43) on charges of "money laundering" in two residential units and seizing three mobile phones. They are believed to be the core accomplices of the group in the mainland, responsible for controlling puppet accounts in the above-mentioned units.
Investigations revealed that the proceeds of the laundering crimes were derived from fraudulent proceeds. The largest single fraud case involved an online romance and investment scam, resulting in losses of approximately HK$11 million. The victim was a 40-year-old woman working in senior management.
Original URL: on.cc
