The four arrested are two men and two women, aged between 26 and 31. Three are shop owners and the fourth a friend of one of the owners.
They were arrested for alleged conspiracy to defraud on Thursday after officers went undercover and found out some shops had been asking people to pay them their consumption vouchers online. They would then transfer cash back to people’s bank accounts.
Leung Ka-yeung from the force’s Financial Intelligence and Investigation Bureau said the shops would charge people ten to 20 percent of the vouchers’ value.
The acting chief inspector said a total of HK$360,000 and 60 voucher holders were involved in the cases.
“The relevant shops are either retailers or service providers. According to our investigation, their transactions [with the voucher holder] involved no actual services or products,” he said.
