HK unveils plan to put cap on helper loans

 by Daisy CL Mandap

The plan is to base the loan on the helper's monthly income 

The Hong Kong government said it plans to open a public consultation early next year on limiting the amount of money that foreign domestic helpers are allowed to borrow.

The plan is to base the amount on the monthly income of loan applicants, said Secretary for Labour and Welfare Chris Chan, in a written response to legislator Chan Han-pan on Tuesday.

“To step up efforts in addressing the over-borrowing issue of certain groups such as FDHs and young people, the Government is reviewing the existing regulations on money lenders, including exploring to set a borrowing cap on unsecured personal loans based on the monthly income of intending borrowers, alongside enhancing publicity and education,” said Chan.

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The government is now formulating measures in line with this plan, and will announce the details of the public consultation “in due course,” he added.

His statement came on the day the police disclose the raids on two mobile phone companies and a money lender suspected of  illegal lending activities and money laundering targeting migrant workers. The rates of interest reportedly ranged from 400% to 3,000%.

In the past, Sun said the government would remind helpers through publicity and other promotion efforts to “exercise financial prudence and avoid borrowing from finance companies.”

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At the same time, it has been continuously taking and enhancing measures to regulate the business practices of money lenders.

But the effort does not seem to be having much impact lately, when even employers have been subjected to harassment by collectors for lending companies.

From a total of four such cases reported in 2023 and none in 2022, there have been 9 in the first 10 months of the year already, according to statistics he provided to legislators.

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The outstanding debt in these cases was mostly not provided, but those that were, reportedly  ranged between $1,000 and $16,800.

Previous media reports indicated that in some of these cases, the employers were the ones harassed by debt collectors, threatening to shame them on social media if they did not pay up. At least one employer reported having red paint splashed in front of his office by the collectors.

On the question of whether FDHs should be stopped from using their employers’ addresses when applying for loans, Sun said an employer who finds out that his/her residential address was used improperly should contact the money lender concerned and demand that the improper debt collection be stopped.

As to individuals used as loan referees, Sun said their written consent should be provided along with the loan agreement. If no such written consent is provided, the money lender should refrain from contacting the referee.

But even if consent is acquired, that role as a referee ends when the loan is granted, said Sun. In other words, the referee should not be harassed or contacted even if the debtor reneged on the promise to repay on time.

On the so-called issue of job-hopping, Sun said there has been a significant decline in the number of FDHs found to have engaged in the practice of changing employers on a whim.

Of the 1,557 FDH applications referred to Immigration’s special duties team for follow-up due to suspected “job hopping” in 2023, 502 were eventually rejected.

The resulting number of just over 1,000 “job hoppers” was notably lower than the 5,844 recorded in 2020 and 2,833 in 2021, he added  

Sun said the situation has significantly improved after the passing of the revised Code of Practice for Employment Agencies in May.

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2 Filipina DHs jailed for money laundering

 

Two domestic helpers joined the growing list of Filipinos who have been ensnared in money laundering and jailed yesterday, after they pleaded guilty to dealing with crime money through their bank accounts.

Christine Verano, 40 years old, was sentenced to 16 months imprisonment, after she pleaded guilty at West Kowloon court to violating the Organized and Serious Crimes Ordinance by lending her Bank of China ATM card in exchange for $1,500.

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Between April 17, 2021 and June 8, 2021, more than 40 deposits were made in her bank account, totaling $1,110,920.01 and withdrawn.

Of that total, more than $300,000 came from investment scams, Acting Principal Magistrate Cheng Lim-chi told Verano.

“What you were paid was not substantial, but the losses for victims were serious,” he added.

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For her sentence, Magistrate Cheng chose a starting point of two years, and deducted one third for her guilty plea, resulting in her being jailed for 16 months.

Her lawyer had earlier sought leniency, citing her remorse, her being the sole breadwinner for her three sons and daughter, and her sudden need to raise money because her daughter delivered a baby by cesarian section.

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At the Shatin Court, Elynn Jean Dorado, 52 years old, was sentenced to 60 days in prison after she pleaded guilty before Acting Principal Magistrate Cheang Kei-hong.

 She admitted allowing criminals to use her Hang Seng Bank account to deposit $260,503.3  of crime money and withdraw the same amount as “clean” money between Dec. 23 2018 and Jan. 12, 2019.

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Come to us if your passport is held by the police, says PCG

 by Daisy CL Mandap

More than 1,300 passports were turned over to PCG in 2019, after
a police bust on an illegal money lender 

The Philippine Consulate has called on all Filipinos whose passports were taken away by Hong Kong Police during its recent crackdown on a suspected illegal money lending syndicate to approach them directly.

In its advisory released yesterday, the Consulate said those concerned about passports being held by the police should coordinate with them directly amid reports some Filipino community leaders are asking those affected to go through them.

So far, those who have expressed concern about not getting back their passports were those who pawned them with RichRen Finance Limited in Mong Kok, which was raided by the police on Monday on suspicion of illegal lending and collection of identity documents, and money laundering.

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The police took away relevant documents found in the money lender’s office, including the passports of an unknown number of Filipino debtors.

Two mobile phone companies, including OWTEL, were also targeted in the raids, but it does not seem they had kept the passports of those who took out loans with them.

At least one leader said more than 50 Filipino domestic workers had contacted her about their missing passports, and she promised to take them with her to the Consulate on Sunday.

Many of those who had pawned their passports with RichRen are said to be worried because they are due to fly home to the Philippines next month, or over the Christmas holidays.

Separately, a blogger who used to be an OFW in HK posted a message telling the borrowers not to be overly concerned as the police in Mong Kok had reportedly said the passports would be turned over to the Consulate after their investigation.

What he did not seem to realize was that the police investigation could take a long time, and those who need their passports to exit Hong Kong, renew their contracts or visas or for any other reason, could be left in a bind.

Also, as a matter of practice, the Consulate never gives back passports used as collateral for loans, as this could amount to condoning an illegal act.

In its advisory, the Consulate warned that using or accepting passports as collaterals for loans is a serious offence under the New Passport Law, which prescribes a prison term and fine for violators.

However, from similar instances in the past, like when about 1,300 passports were seized by the police from another money lender named OFC in July 2019, those who hocked them were not prosecuted but were reminded that they had violated the law.

In these cases, the persons concerned were issued with passports valid for only five years, instead of 10. They were also made to sign an undertaking that they will not commit the offense again, otherwise they will no longer be issued with a passport.

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Overstayer for 20 years jailed 15 months for illegal work

 

For 20 years, a Filipina who came to Hong Kong as a tourist and overstayed, managed to evade detection. But her luck ran out last year when she was arrested for illegally working as a dishwasher.

In Eastern Court yesterday, Judy Joan Liban, 58 years old, was jailed for a total of 15 months after she pleaded guilty to violating her visa condition by overstaying, and for working illegally.

Acting Principal Magistrate Don So imposed a 15-month sentence for each charge, but ordered them to run at the same time. However, he did not give her the usual one-third discount for her guilty plea.

Liban was arrested on Dec. 20, 2023 in a restaurant on Shell St in North Point while wearing an apron and washing dishes, and was found to have remained in Hong Kong after her tourist visa expired on Dec. 3, 2004.

She was charged with violating section 38AA(1)(c) of the Immigration Ordinance which statse that tourists must not take any employment, whether paid or unpaid, or establish or join in any business, and section 38AA(2) which prescribes a penalty of fine at Level 5 ($50,000) and imprisonment of 15 months.

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Separately, a 50-year-old Filipina who remained in Hong Kong despite a deportation order, was jailed for 18 months after pleading guilty at Shatin Court.

Glenda Manalo’s admission of the offence caused acting Principal Magistrate Cheang Kei-hong to cancel another hearing scheduled for Jan. 2 next year.

Manalo was arrested last Nov. 16 on a charge of violating section 43(1)(a) of the Immigration Ordinance, which prescribes a maximum penalty of three years in jail.

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FDHs warned against illegal work as 10 people arrested in Immigration raids

 

Immigration agents lead away one of 5 suspected illegal workers arrested yesterday

Ten people, two of them foreign domestic helpers and three overstayers, were arrested in a day-long  anti-illegal work operation yesterday by  Immigration Department agents.

The five others were suspected employers.

The operation yesterday was carried out across the territory, and targeted 15 locations, including restaurants, employment agencies, retail shops and industrial buildings.

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The arrested workers were all women, aged 39 to 59. They were found to have worked as dishwasher, waitress, clerical worker and delivery staff. A copy of a forged Hong Kong identity card was also found during the operation.

The five suspected employers, meanwhile, comprised four men and one woman, aged 39 to 62.

A statement issued by Immigration said  the case is still under investigation, and did not rule out further arrests.

2 more illegal workers are taken away for questioning

The statement warned: "A helper should only perform domestic duties for the employer specified in the contract. The helper should not take up any other employment, including part-time domestic duties, with any other person. The employer should not require or allow the helper to carry out any work for any other person,"  

Illegal work is a serious offence, for which a maximum sentence of two years’ imprisonment and $50,000 fine is prescribed. The jail term could go up to three years if the illegal worker is an overstayer, illegal immigrant, or asylum seeker.

Those found to have used a forged HKID card to obtain work could face up to 10 years in prison and $100,000 fine. Making false representation to Immigration or possessing a false instrument is even more serious, as it could result in imprisonment for up to 14 years and a fine of $150,000.

Employers of illegal workers face a maximum fine of $500,000 and 10 years’ imprisonment. Merely failing to check the identity document of a job applicant properly could result in a fine of $150,000 and imprisonment for one year.

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OWTEL shops raided over alleged illegal lending

 

OWTEL's shop in WorldWide Plaza was roped in during Sunday's raid

Police have arrested 46 people in connection with an alleged illegal lending and money laundering syndicate that targeted foreign domestic helpers.

The police made the announcement at a press briefing yesterday, two days after the shops of mobile phone retailer OWTEL (or One World Telecom) at World-Wide Plaza in Central were raided Sunday afternoon, and its staff rounded up for questioning. 

Reports said its other shops in seven different locations were also shut down.

A police statement released to The SUN today said the anti-illegal loan operations codenamed “DarkCurrent” was conducted from Nov. 24 to 25 and involved two phone shops with multiple branches and a licensed money lender. 

No names were mentioned, but subsequent social media posts by affected Filipino domestic workers named the money lender as RichRen Finance Limited, which has an office in  Mong Kok.

“During the operation, officers arrested nine local men, one local woman, eight foreign men and 28 foreign women aged between 20 and 76, including the mastermind and core members of the syndicate suspected of loaning without a licence,” said the statement.

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Seized during the raids were more than HK$1million in cash, loan documents,  passports and employment contracts. Nearly HK$2 million in different accounts were frozen.

The annual interest rate charged by the group was as high as 400 percent, said the statement. Hong Kong laws only allow annual interest rates of up to 48 percent for loans.

At the press briefing, Chief Inspector Ho Yan-kit of the Hong Kong Island regional crime unit said, “The loan group would use various excuses to induce foreign domestic workers to take out high-interest loans  and use various methods, including charging unreasonable fees and forcing them to buy cheap products, then deduct most of the principal from the borrowers.”

Ho told reporters one of the phone shops was found to have issued loans to 1,500 helpers, amounting to HK$9 million in the past six months, while another had lent HK$30 million to about 5,000 helpers.

 “[The syndicate] took advantage of the victims desperate for a loan and imposed unreasonable terms, handling fees, advance repayment and hidden costs, while forcing them to buy unnecessary electronics to get the loans,” Ho said in Cantonese.

He said the debtors were also asked to provide their employer’s personal details to make sure they paid up, adding that both the helper and the employer were harassed if repayments were not made on time.

Shop staff (in orange jackets) were arrested and herded to the ground floor 

One of the arrested phone retailers allegedly offered a $3,500 loan to a domestic worker, but gave her only $1,000 in cash after forcing her to buy a cell phone for $1,300 and pay extra for processing.

The helper was then made to pay $2,942 in four monthly installments, amounting to an annual interest rate of 102 percent, said Ho.

Another victim who asked to borrow $6,000 from another phone retailer was given only $1,950 in cash, with the rest of the loan amount being given to her in cash vouchers she was to use at the same shop. 

She then had to pay the whole amount in three months, amounting to an annual interest rate of 397 percent.

Another method used was to force victims into paying $1,500 for overpriced and unwanted “gift boxes” containing a mobile phone, skincare products and a small amount of cash. Another $1,800 was reportedly charged as interest and administration fees.

At the same press conference, Chief Inspector Wong King-shing of the Central District crime unit said police had also arrested members of four illegal lending websites and the mastermind of a local lending syndicate.

He said that the police started looking into the case in July after receiving reports of domestic workers falling victim to online lending scams that required them to give up their passports and employment contracts in exchange for loans.

But once they surrendered their documents the websites would only give them half of the loan amount, with the rest being deducted as “administrative fees.” In some of these cases, the annual interest rate charge was 3,000 percent.

Wong said that in just a year of operation, the syndicate had extended HK$700,000 in loans to 140 victims.

The victims were directed to the websites by friends or social media posts, and told to download forms they needed to fill up to secure loans. 

Many were tricked into believing that these were legitimate operations because some websites used names similar to licensed finacial companies.

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Scam alert: Beware of scammers impersonating police officers

 

Graphic from ADCC

The government has warned the public about the latest scam in Hong Kong, in which scammers impersonating police officers send out WhatsApp messages telling recipients that they have been involved in criminal activities.

In a bulletin, the Anti-Deeption Coordinating Centre said the messages may seem genuine because they might cite one’s personal information, but “it does not necessarily mean that they are genuine law enforcement officers.”

It added: “Scammers can obtain the personal information of the public by unlawful means.”

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ADCC said this is how the scam works: “… scammers impersonating senior officers of the Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF) send WhatsApp messages with phone number +852 5687 4117 to members of the public, falsely claiming that they had been involved in illegal activities and asking them to make transfers to designated cryptocurrency accounts as ‘clearance fees’ to assist in investigation. 

In the scams, photos of the HKPF’s senior officers were fraudulently used as WhatsApp profile photos so as to gain the public’s trust.”

But the police said such practices are not done by genuine law enforcement officers. They “will not ask for your online banking password in investigation of cases, or ask you to transfer money to designated bank accounts,” the government statement said.

“If anyone claims themselves as an officer of law enforcement or government agencies and asks for your personal information and assets under various pretexts, you should contact corresponding agencies to verify their identities,” it added.

If in doubt, people can call the “Anti-Scam Helpline 18222”.

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Sikap turns 40

 

Lester Esquilona speaks in the shadow of his mentor and predecessor, Sikap founder Rey Vital

Forty years. That’s how long this group of Filipinos in Hong Kong has managed to not only stay together, but also to continue having fun together, as they do their bit to help other people in the community.

Last Sunday, Nov 24, Sikap Association Hong Kong (short for Samahan ng mga Nagkakaisang Pilipino) led by its hardworking president, Lester Esquilona, held not just one, but two big events, to celebrate the milestone.

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Kickstarting the celebration was a lunch party held at Rosedale Hotel in Causeway Bay, where the Sikap family, made up by about 70 Filipino residents as well as foreign domestic workers mostly working as family drivers, entertained each other and their guests with songs, dances and lots of surprises.

The fun did not stop there, as the members regrouped at their usual hangout at the Hong Kong Tennis Court on Wong Nai Chung Road in Wanchai, for an even bigger and more raucous celebration, this time in the company of Labor Attache Mel Dizon.

Fun is in the air as Sikap members celebrate their 40th year

“I really wanted our 40^th anniversary to be special because I wanted to show everyone that Sikap Association Hong Kong not only looks after the well-being of its members, but also help needy members of the Filipino community,” said Esquilona.

“I wanted everyone to feel the warmth and love coming from our group,  embrace and love from our group, as we continue gathering every Sunday after playing tennis to have meals and fun together, just like any other Filipino family.”

Esquilona also took time to pay tribute to the well-loved Sikap founder Rey Vital, who became literally the group’s president for life, as he remained at the helm until his passing in 2022.

Keeping the group together was his way of preserving Vital’s legacy of kindness, humility and hard work, said Esquilona. (See story on Rey's passing here: https://www.sunwebhk.com/search?q=Sikap )

The celebration at their Wong Nai Chung hangout, where Labatt Mel caught up

Part of the surprise was the awarding of prizes to members who excelled in tennis, the sport that has bound them together for decades.

Named Players of the Year for scoring the biggest number of wins for the entire year were Liza Marco in the women’s category and Robert Dayao in men’s.

The SUN editor Daisy CL Mandap who was the guest speaker, handed out the trophies. In her speech, Mandap praised the group for sticking together for so long that they have become one of the oldest Filipino community organizations in Hong Kong.

Mandap also commended Sikap for giving back to the Filipino community, especially to the Bethune House Migrant Women’s Refuge, which has been their beneficiary for many fund-raising events.

One of the specially made trophies handed out as part of the celebration

The other awardees were Jaquilyn Rodriguez and Liza Marco, champions in Ladies Doubles Category B; with Melody Ytis and Helen Bade as runners-up; and Canolyn Luciano and Marissa Naquila, champions in the Ladies Doubles Category C; with Angeline de Guzman and Aiza Remollena as runners-up.

Taking the crown in the Men’s Doubles Category A were Bingbong Quicho and Elmer Palma, with runners-up Robert Dayao and Leo Hibaya. In Category, the winners were Arnel Dimapilis and Michael Morales, with Roldan Arellano and JM Sabado as runners-up.

For the Mix Doubles, Jonathan Nicolas and Canolyn Luciano teamed up to take the champion’s trophy while Roldan Arellano and Teng Fulgencio settled for second prize.

Named most improved female players in the beginner’s category were Cecil Sabado and Marissa Naquila while in the men’s division, the awardees were Roldan Arellano and Arnel Dimapilis.

The awarding would not have been complete without two fun players being recognized. Named “Most Funny Player” among the men was a boisterous Wilfredo Dario, while Lilia Miguel who was also all smiles won in the women’s division.

There were also prizes galore as different companies serving the Filipino community in Hong Kong donated goods, from cellphones to door-to-door boxes and meal coupons.

Employment agency owner Merlinda Mercado who headed the raffle committee, made sure many of her fellow members went home happy.

A dance by 'oldies' was one of the surprises at the party 

Rounding up the committee of fun were engineer Ric Mercado and coach Randy Vilan, who acted as hosts.

Sikap was founded in 1984 by Rey Vital with the objective of organizing sports events and tournaments to promote unity among Filipinos in Hong Kong. Initially they focused on basketball and volleyball, but later ventured into tennis which now serves as the group’s sport of choice.

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