Hong Kong police have arrested more than 200 people in an operation to combat Internet fraud, among the victims of which stands out An 80-year-old woman was deceived HK$9.1 million ($1.2 million).

The authorities of the former colony reported this today. arrest of 223 suspects during the operation weeks against criminals posing as investment advisers and against individuals who sold their bank accounts to money laundering organizations.

During the campaign they registered 265 complaints from 328 victims aged 19 to 80 who suffered losses of more than HK$180 million ($23 million), the newspaper reported today. South China Morning Post.

According to Sau Mau Ping District Financial and Technology Crime Department inspector Albert Chow Ka-yong, The most serious case involved an octogenarian retiree who lost a million dollars.

Woman, apartment owner, He communicated online with a scammer for four months who introduced himself as a potential tenant, introduced himself as a banking analyst and convinced him to invest in cryptocurrency assuring him that he had secret information.

The owner of the fictitious account was arrested in this case in which new arrests cannot be ruled out.

The anti-fraud operation ended this Saturday with an arrest 157 men and 66 women aged from 18 to 69 years.who have been charged with deception, fraud and money laundering.

Most of those arrested were owners of “fictitious accounts” that they provided criminals with their personal bank details in exchange for hundreds or thousands of dollars.

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Inspector Lo Kwan-kit from the Tseung Kwan O District Financial and Technology Crime Squad said: the gang created a fake trading platform attract people who were looking for low-risk, high-return investments.

“These scammers are promoting investments in cryptocurrency, stocks of mainland China, precious metals and foreign currency to lure victims,” Kwan-Kit explained.

The authorities called on the population Don’t lend or sell your bank accounts to other people. make a quick profit as they could be charged with money laundering even if they were unaware of the origin or use of the funds.

Money laundering in the former British colony is punishable by up to 14 years in prison and imprisonment. fine of HK$5 million (US$640,000).

In turn, the chief inspector of the Department for Combating Technological and Financial Crimes of East Kowloon District, Nicole Wu Hoi-lin, warned about significant increase in investment-related crimes since last year.

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In the first half of this year, the number of technology-related crimes in the city increased by almost 50%– a fact that police link to an increase in economic activity online as a result of the mitigation of the Covid-19 pandemic.

During this period of power 15,637 cases of this type have been registered, resulting in economic losses amounting to HK$2.033 million ($260 million).

(according to information from EFE)