Hong Kong police arrest 3 suspects over credit cards stolen on flights, purchases in Vietnam
Suspects part of syndicate tat used hotel room near airport to make card transactions that could amount to millions of Hong Kong dollars
Reading Time:2 minutesWhy you can trust SCMP
0
Listen
Further Reading
Hong Kong police arrest 16 after raid on gambling den with arcade machines
Hong Kong police looking for burglar who stole cash from school during T8 signal
Discover MORE stories on
Crime in Hong Kong
FOLLOW
now and stay updated with
Explainer | How ‘Dragon Slaying’ bomb plot against Hong Kong police unfolded
Hong Kong launches first cybersecurity drill after surge in hacking cases
Hong Kong police arrest 16 after raid on gambling den with arcade machines
Before you go
Start Conversation
scmp poll
related topics
Crime in Hong Kong
Hong Kong police
Hong Kong
Clifford Lo
Published: 7:12pm, 15 Nov 2024Updated: 8:17pm, 15 Nov 2024
Hong Kong police have arrested three mainland Chinese visitors in a crackdown on a syndicate that stole credit cards from passengers on flights bound for the city and then made purchases through shops in Vietnam.
A source familiar with the case said the syndicate, which used a hotel room near Hong Kong International Airport as an operational centre, could have pocketed millions of Hong Kong dollars over the past three months.
Senior Inspector Wong Yuen-yan of the Sham Shui Po district crime squad revealed details of the operation on Friday, saying officers had discovered 42 receipts in the hotel room dated November 12 or 13, with card transactions amounting to 360 million Vietnamese dong (HK$110,000).
A source familiar with the case said police had started investigating the syndicate about five weeks ago, after learning about its activities on Hong Kong-bound flights from Asian countries such as India, the Philippines, Malaysia and Vietnam.
Officers had identified a 34-year-old man, allegedly a key member of the syndicate, who had been renting a room near the airport since August to use as an operational centre, the source said.
The man held a two-way travel permit that allows mainland residents to visit Hong Kong, and investigations suggested he made multiple visits to the city and checked into the same hotel near the airport over the past three months.
After gathering evidence, officers raided the hotel room on Wednesday and arrested the man. Another man, 32, and a 27-year-old woman were also apprehended. All three suspects are from Hunan province.
The source said during the search of the hotel room, police found 11 wireless electronic payment machines linked to four shops in Vietnam.
Inside the room, officers seized 10 credit cards issued by banks from different countries, including Vietnam.
“Police believe members of the syndicate stole passengers’ belongings, including bank cards, at the airport and on different flights, and then took the stolen cards to the hotel room near the airport,” Senior Inspector Wong said.
“Before the victims could notice and cancel their cards, the criminals used the cards to conduct transactions with wireless electronic payment machines connected to shops in Vietnam.”
She said the full amount of the transactions processed at the operational centre was still under investigation.
The source said police were checking surveillance camera footage to identify individuals who had visited the hotel room over the past three months, adding further arrests had not been ruled out.
The three suspects were detained on conspiracy to defraud – an offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
Chief Inspector Cheng Ki-fung (left) and Senior Inspector Wong Yuen-yan of Sham Shui Po district crime squad. Photo: Handout
Chief Inspector Cheng Ki-fung from the same squad said it was the first time that police had discovered a criminal syndicate using such wireless electronic payment machines connected to shops overseas to carry out transactions in the city.
Cheng said the criminals’ strategy was to make it difficult for law enforcement officers to find out where the stolen cards were being used, increasing the complexity of the police investigation.
He reminded people to be vigilant about safeguarding their belongings during flights, adding there had been a 75 per cent increase in reported crime on flights bound for the city in the first 10 months of this year.
Latest police figures show the number of reported thefts on flights to Hong Kong rose to 207 between January and October this year, up from 118 cases logged in the same period of last year.
Among the reported cases was one that occurred on August 30 in which a traveller lost a watch worth HK$4.16 million (US$534,570) on a Hong Kong- bound Swiss International Air Lines flight.
