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A 32-year-old Taiwanese man was jailed for six years with the enhancement of sentence under the Organized and Serious Crimes Ordinance for conspiracy to defraud and money laundering at the District Court today (October 14).
The court heard that a victim received a phone call from defendant's partner earlier and was told that his/her family member requested for money urgently. Police mounted an operation on March 10 this year and the defendant was arrested when he took money from the victim.
Further enquiries revealed that the defendant was also in connection with another four deception cases from February to March this year in which the victims suffered a total loss of about $600,000.
The defendant was subsequently charged with conspiracy to defraud and money laundering and sentence was handed down today.
The number of telephone deception cases has been increased from 262 in 2004 to 1,738 cases in 2006 and reduced to 1,429 in 2008. The loss was 7 million in 2004 and rose to 23 million in 2008. Police has recorded 1,101 cases of telephone deception till September this year and the loss has amounted to 22 million.
Police will continue to co-operate with other law enforcement authorities to take rigorous effort to strike telephone deception cases.
Police Report No. 7
Ends/Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Issued at HKT 22:55
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