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The Judiciary Police nabbed a local woman and a local man for money laundering on Thursday and Friday, respectively, PJ spokesman Cheong Kim Fong said during special presses conference on Friday and Saturday.

Cheong identified the two suspects as a 52-year-old traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) pharmacy owner surnamed Hong and a 35-year-old chef surnamed Chong.

According to Cheong, in May 2025, the Judiciary Police received a report from a bank indicating that 34 mainland bank ATM cards had been used to conduct 60 transactions at a TCM pharmacy in the central district between March 22 and May 9 last year, with a total amount of 4.9 million patacas.

Cheong said that the investigation revealed that 1.39 million patacas of this sum were confirmed to be linked to 10 telecom fraud cases in the Chinese mainland, involving losses of around 2.67 million yuan, adding that the three individuals involved did not actually collect the goods after the transactions.

On Thursday, the Judiciary Police arrested Hong, who, under questioning, denied conspiring to launder fraud proceeds through false transactions and concealing facts, according to Cheong, who underlined that the three suspects from the Chinese mainland were still at large at the time of the press conference.

Hong, who faces charges of money laundering and other crimes, was transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office after the press conference.

Fraud victim turns fraudster to recover losses

Meanwhile, according to Cheong, a female victim was attracted by a loan advertisement on a social media platform in late January, requiring her to pay a handling fee in advance. After transferring HK$90,000 as instructed, Cheong said that the fraudster demanded additional payments using pretexts such as purported system errors. From January 26 to February 5, the victim transferred a total of HK$530,000 to a Macau bank account but was unable to obtain the loan, Cheong said, adding that the victim then reported the case to the Judiciary Police, stating a loss of HK$620,000.

Upon investigation, Cheong said, PJ officers identified the account holder, Chong, who had received the funds and had been defrauded of 300,000 patacas in a similar scheme and reported the case to the Judiciary Police last December. Subsequently, to recover his lost funds, he agreed to let the fraud syndicate use his bank account to process illicit money, according to Cheong, adding that Chong’s account received a total of HK$590,000 in involved funds.

Chong faces charges of money laundering and fraud. Chong was transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) after the press conference.