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| 4 women are accused of complicity in the love scam-money laundering case |
A local woman who works as a corporate secretary told Eastern Court today about how she lost a total of $1,850,265 over five months in 2020 after she befriended and fell in love with someone called “Zhang” she met on a dating site.
J. Wong, who
appeared to be in her 30s and is pretty and soft-spoken, took the stand as the
first prosecution witness in the trial of four people – a Chinese woman working
as a waitress and three Filipino domestic helpers – each accused of money
laundering.
Wong recalled
how she became a victim of a love scam which started at about 11am on June 25,
2020 when she started chatting with Zhang, who introduced himself as engineer
working in Cyprus.
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| TAWAG NA! |
Soon, Wong said she and Zhang became an “internet couple.”
On July 6, or less than two weeks
after befriending her, Zhang told Wong via WhatsApp that he was sending her a
package containing an iPhone and some small gifts.
Although she
initially declined the gift, Wong ended up transferring a total of $1,680,655 of her own money to 15 bank accounts of unknown people, after someone
claiming to be from courier company ACE Express told her she needed to pay “clearance fees”
for the package.
Later, she was
charged for “interest payments” as well, as the package also supposedly contained a big
amount of cash.
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| PINDUTIN DITO |
On Aug. 20, 2020, after she had made 22 bank transactions to obtain the parcel, the person claiming to be from the courier company, demanded an additional payment of $16,400. Wong told the court she decided to block the person on WhatsApp then, as he did not fulfill his promise to deliver the parcel and send her money back.
However, she
then proceeded to complain to Zhang about what had happened, and her internet
boyfriend immediately assured her that he would repay her shortly, as he was
planning to visit her in Hong Kong after finishing a project.
“At this stage I
wanted to believe him because I needed to get back my money,” Wong said.
But what
happened instead was that she lost more money, as Zhang then asked for her help in paying for his tools and other matters he needed to sort out so he
could immediately fly to Hong Kong.
From September
25 to October 20, 2020, she made four more bank transfers in Euros and pound sterling
to two different persons, for a total sum of $169,600.
On Oct. 30,
Zhang contacted her again, saying he had an accident and needed more money so
he could fly to Hong Kong, but Wong declined.
After their last
conversation on Nov. 19, 2020, Wong could no longer contact Zhang, so she
decided to confide in friends. They convinced her to immediately file a report
with the police as she had been scammed.
Wong said that after
reporting the matter to the North Point Police station, she was told that it would be impossible to recover her losses.
Only one of the defense lawyers decided to cross-examine Wong, and it was to ask about her educational background. Wong said she was educated up to tertiary level.
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| North Point police investigators told the victim it would be impossible to get her money back |
Earlier, the prosecutor read out admitted facts in the case, which showed that part of Wong’s money had passed through the bank accounts of the four accused, which altogether showed a total of more than $2.4 million in deposits and withdrawals in just three months.
About 10 other Filipinos were named as recipients of the $1.85 million that Wong transferred to local banks, but it appears they have escaped detection by the police.
The four
defendants all denied a charge each of “dealing with property known or believed
to represent proceeds of an indictable offence” but did not dispute that their
bank accounts were used as funnels for illicit funds.
First defendant
Wong Siu-kuen, 53, was the owner of a Hang Seng bank account through which a
total of $776,460 passed between June 15, 2020 and Aug. 20, 2020.
Second defendant
Marife A. Dionson, 43, and a North Point resident, owned the HSBC account in
which $358,300 was deposited and withdrawn within 24 hours, between July 8 and
July 9, 2020.
Third defendant
Geraldine G. Tolentino, 38, of Shatin, is accused of working with a person
known only as “Wai” in laundering a total of $566,438 in her HSBC account,
between July 15 and July 20, 2020.
Fourth
defendant Ires S. Caliwanagan, 40, from
Sai Kung, owned the HSBC account used to launder the biggest sum of $714,406
between July 10 and July 23, 2020.
A fifth
defendant, Maila U. Samson, was originally charged with the four, but pleaded
guilty in October last year to money laundering, and was sentenced to eight
months in jail.
She admitted
knowing that a total of $607,000 in crime proceeds (part of which had come from
Joanne Wong’s account) had passed through her HSBC account between July 15 and
Aug 7, 2020.
Magistrate
Minnie Wat extended the defendants’ bail until today, when the trial resumes.
Wong is on
$2,000 bail while the three Filipinas are out on $1,000 bail each.
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