Warning up again vs lending or selling ATMs

 

The graphics show an ATM owner being jailed for money laundering 

The Philippine Consulate has again put up a warning in its Facebook page against passing on one’s bank account to a syndicate that could use it to launder money.

The announcement was in the form of a poster from the Hong Kong Financial Intelligence and Investigation Bureau, and read: “Say no to lending or selling bank account. Avoid committing criminal offences.”

The  Bureau, which is jointly run by the HK Police and the Customs and Excise Department, is a government arm that identifies and analyzes suspicious financial transactions before disseminating them to appropriate law enforcement agencies in or outside Hong Kong.

The Consulate’s advisory came as more Filipina domestic workers appeared in court to face money laundering charges after they willingly passed on their ATM cards to people or groups who used them to launder funds generated from crime.

Among them was a Filipina who was reportedly arrested at Hong Kong International Airport early this month as she was on her way home for a vacation. She did not realize that her having been investigated for suspicious transactions in her bank account would result in her being prevented from leaving Hong Kong.

On Wednesday, another Filipina appeared in court, charged with dealing with property known to be proceeds of a crime, or money laundering.

April Rose Sumaya, 41, was arrested after a sum of $45,100 was found in her Hang Seng Bank, and was thought to have been moved there as part of a money laundering ring.

The offence for which she was charged happened between June 28 and June 30, 2021. This was around the same time when more than a dozen Filipinas were rounded up individually after suspicious fund transfers were detected in their accounts.

Some of them readily admitted to selling their ATMs to unknown people for as low as $500, while others insisted they had lent them to friends without money changing hands. A few were adamant they lost their ATMs but did not consider this a big enough reason to file a complaint with the police.

Sumaya was allowed to post bail amounting to $2,000 and told to appear again in court on Oct. 11 this year.

Early this year, the police warned of a spike in money laundering cases, after more than 1,150 people were arrested for the offence in 2022. They added this year’s figure is expected to be significantly higher, because of the lifting of pandemic restrictions.

As of February this year, they had already arrested more than 630 people on suspicion of laundering some $7.8 billion.

A police spokesperson said anyone who sells or lends his or her account to someone else should be held equally liable for money laundering. He said their excuse of not knowing anything about the illicit transactions was “unacceptable” and “unreasonable.”

He said the police was stepping up efforts to instill in people’s minds that it is not right to let someone else use their bank accounts for whatever reason.