Hong Kong police have cracked a virtual currency "gold laundering" fraud case involving approximately 7 million Hong Kong dollars

Odaily Planet Daily reports that Hong Kong police have successfully solved a cross-border telephone fraud case. The criminal syndicate, posing as mainland Chinese officials, specifically targeted mainland Chinese students studying in the UK and Australia. The scammers falsely claimed that the victims were involved in money laundering or other criminal cases, demanding they "cooperate with the investigation" and travel to Hong Kong to purchase gold granules at jewelry stores on multiple occasions as a "deposit." Each transaction was kept under 120,000 Hong Kong dollars to circumvent the jewelry store's registration system. The gold was then collected and transferred by syndicate members, subsequently melted into gold bars or converted into cash and virtual currency. The police have received a total of 7 related cases so far, involving approximately 7 million Hong Kong dollars, with the highest single-case loss reaching 1.6 million Hong Kong dollars. (Hong Kong Wen Wei Po)