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A 34-year-old man convicted of money laundering was sentenced to three yearsˇ¦ imprisonment by the District Court today (September 9).
The Court heard that in January 2007, the defendant came to Hong Kong and opened three local bank accounts in name of three different companies, where he was the sole director.
A male victim was then contacted by the defendant through unsolicited emails. The victim was induced by way of promise of handsome commission if he could assist to remit the inheritance out of the country left by a deceased foreigner. Responding to the emails, the victim was requested to pay for various administrative fees in advance before the inheritance could be remitted out of that country. The victim paid the fees as required, but feeling suspicious afterwards, he made a report to the Police.
The Fraud Division of the Commercial Crime Bureau took over the case for investigations. It was discovered that large sums of overseas remittances were conducted between March to October 2007 through these bank accounts.
The 34-year-old man was arrested in October last year and was later charged with money laundering. He was convicted three counts of the charges and the sentence was handed down today.
Police appealed to the members of the public to be cautious when they receive any unsolicited offers by means of promising rewards on payment of any advanced fee. The public is strongly advised not to respond to such offers and anyone who has come across such similar suspected fraud cases are advised to make a report to the Police.
Police Report No. 3
Ends/Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Issued at HKT 22:52
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