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The Office of Foreign Workers of the Philippines has warned Filipino domestic helpers not to lend their Hong Kong identity cards to avoid falling into money laundering traps.
The MWO posted the warning on its Facebook page on Friday night, a day after Hong Kong police announced the arrests of 14 domestic workers, 13 Filipinos and one Indonesian; and two local men suspected of conspiring to launder money.
The suspects, aged between 21 and 54, were arrested in a police money laundering operation codenamed "Halobolt" on 27 November.
Police said the gang provided migrant domestic workers with funds ranging from $200 to $500, lending or "renting" their bank accounts for the purpose of laundering the money.
Members of the criminal group would then enter the account holder's name and create their own password to gain direct control of the account. Fraud victims are then told to deposit money into a dummy account, which is then quickly emptied through multiple bank transfers.
Police are calling on all employers to remind their helpers that money laundering is a serious offence, and anyone providing personal details to anyone in order to open a bank account in their name for the purpose of money laundering may be breaking the law.
Under Hong Kong law, money laundering is punishable by up to 14 years in prison and a fine of up to $5 million.
Hong Kong courts are imposing tougher penalties on those who allow their bank accounts to be used for illegal acts as money laundering-related cases continue to rise.
The maximum sentence handed down so far is 15 months in prison after the trial of a Philippine health official whose bank account was used to transfer more than $1.2 million from a romance fraud victim.
In June this year, another female Filipino health official was sentenced to 12 months in prison after she was found to have transferred $281,000 through a bank account she had just opened.
菲律宾移民警告不要借用香港身份证 13人因洗黑钱被捕
菲律宾外籍劳工办公室警告菲律宾家庭佣工不要借出香港身份证，以免落入洗钱陷阱。
周五晚间，香港警方宣布逮捕 14 名家庭佣工、13 名菲律宾人和一名印度尼西亚人，一天后，MWO 在其 Facebook 页面上发布了这一警告； 以及两名涉嫌合谋洗钱的当地男子。
这些嫌疑人年龄在21岁至54岁之间，于11月27日在警方代号为“Halobolt”的洗钱行动中被捕。
警方称，该团伙向外来家政工人提供200至500美元不等的资金，借出或“出租”他们的银行账户，以达到洗钱的目的。
然后，犯罪集团的成员将输入帐户持有人的姓名并创建自己的密码，以直接控制该帐户。 然后，欺诈受害者被告知将钱存入一个虚拟账户，然后通过多次银行转账迅速清空该账户。
警方呼吁所有雇主提醒他们的帮手，洗钱是一种严重罪行，任何人向任何人提供个人详细信息，以便以自己的名义开设银行账户以进行洗钱，都可能违法。
根据香港法律，洗钱可被判处最高 14 年监禁和最高 500 万美元的罚款。
随着洗钱相关案件持续增加，香港法院对那些允许其银行账户用于非法行为的人处以更严厉的处罚。
一名菲律宾卫生官员的银行账户被用来从一名爱情诈骗受害者身上转移超过 120 万美元，目前最高刑期为 15 个月监禁。
今年6月，另一名菲律宾女卫生官员被发现通过她刚刚开设的银行账户转账281,000美元，被判处12个月监禁。
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