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Hong Kong police have issued a warning over a rising trend of fake official scams targeting mainland Chinese students after fraudsters tried to stage the kidnapping of an 18-year-old to extort HK$6 million from his father.
Senior inspector Chu Yuen-tim of the Hong Kong Island regional technology and financial crime unit said on Saturday that 126 people were arrested in a 12-day operation, code-named “Enter Haze”, between October 28 and November 8.
The 87 men and 39 women, aged 14 to 78, were rounded up on suspicion of money laundering and obtaining property by deception, among other crimes.
They were allegedly involved in 110 scam cases, which affected 325 people.
The victims, aged 18 to 86, have lost funds ranging from HK$400 to HK$59 million, with the total amount involved reaching HK$5.7 billion.
Among them was the 18-year-old mainland university student, who is studying in Hong Kong. He was tricked by a fraudster in a mainland police uniform who had an arrest warrant for him.