Hong Kong joins forces with 9 countries and regions to crack down on cross-border fraud and money laundering, detaining over 3,000 people, with some illicit funds converted into stablecoins

According to monitoring by the Hong Kong SAR Government Press Release, Hong Kong police announced a joint operation with law enforcement agencies from nine countries and regions, including Singapore, South Korea, and Thailand, to combat cross-border fraud and money laundering. The operation took place from March 10 to May 7, resulting in the arrest of 3,018 individuals involved in over 138,000 fraud cases, with total losses amounting to approximately $752 million.

During the operation, a total of 101,989 bank accounts were frozen, and approximately $161 million in fraudulent proceeds were intercepted. Among these, Hong Kong police arrested 870 individuals and intercepted around HK$539 million. In the largest case, a Singaporean company was defrauded of $36 million. The relevant funds flowed into multiple bank accounts in Hong Kong and other regions, with about half being converted into stablecoins and transferred to various virtual asset wallets. Police successfully froze $20 million of these funds.