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| This February 2025 post by the Consulate warns about a supposed online game where FDWs are asked to pose for photos and present their HKIDs in exchange for cash |
In what could set a precedent for cases where HK ID cards are slyly obtained by crime syndicates, then used them to open bank accounts for money laundering, a Filipina former domestic helper is set to stand trial over charges that she let $2.2 million in crime money to flow through her two bank accounts.
Analiza
Talay, 48 years old, appeared in Eastern Court earlier today, when she was
told that her trial for two counts of money laundering has been set for Jun 2
and 3.
Both charges accused Talay of “dealing
with property known or believed to be proceeds of indictable offense,” in
violation of the Organized and Serious Crimes Ordinance, or what is more
commonly known as money laundering.
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| Basahin ang detalye! |
Prosecutors
said that 25 witnesses will be called during the trial, and transcripts of two
video recorded interviews will be submitted.
Magistrate
Don So extended Talay’s $5,000 bail until then.
In
her interview with the police Talay said she was approached by unknown
individuals in a mall and offered $500 in exchange for allowing a picture of
her HKID card to be taken.
She
complied, not realizing that her ID card would then be used by unknown
individuals to open accounts in her name in two different online banks, Mox and
ZA, through which a total of $2.2 million from illegal transactions had flowed
in March 2023.
In the first charge, she is accused of
dealing, together with an unknown person, with $1,746,610.41 “representing the
proceeds of an indictable offense” that flowed in and out of her Mox Bank
account between 19 and 28 of March 2023.
In the second charge, she is also
accused of conspiring with an unknown person in using her ZA Bank account to
deal with $478,121.52 in crime proceeds between 19 and 27 March 2023.
This is not the first time that Filipina domestic
helpers had found themselves facing similar charges after unknowingly sharing
their HKID cards with unknown people, either in person, or via social media, in
exchange for cash.
The problem had gotten so rampant that the
Philippine Consulate General has repeatedly posted advisories warning Filipinos
against selling, lending or renting out their HKID cards in exchange for cash.
In the latest warning posted on Facebook only last
February, the PCG said syndicates had been using a supposed online game to
entice Filipinos to join using their HKID cards and personal photos, for which
a reward of at least $500 was offered.
“Unfortunately,
the supposed online game is actually a virtual bank app (e.g., Mox Bank, ZA,
ets) and the syndicates would use the Hong Kong ID and photograph taken from
the target FDW to open a bank account,” said the PCG in its advisory.
In
December last year, the PCG also posted a warning a day after Hong Kong Police
announced the arrest of 14 domestic workers – 13 Filipinos and one Indonesian,
along with two local men, as part of anti-money laundering operaton.
Police
said a syndicate had offered the helpers between $200 and $500 to FDWs to “rent”
out their bank accounts so they could use them for money laundering.
The
Police called on all employers to remind their helpers that money laundering is
a serious offence and that anyone who provides personal information to anyone
to open a bank account for money laundering purposes in their name, may be
breaking the law.
Under
Hong Kong laws, money laundering is punishable by up to 14 years in prison and
a maximum fine of $5 million.
