Frozen scam funds still out of reach after two years
SingTao · 1 SOURCESabout 9 hours ago5 MIN
Summary
A social media post has drawn attention to the difficulty scam victims face even when police manage to freeze money in accounts linked to fraud. In the case described, a mother lost tens of thousands of Hong Kong dollars in a phone scam two years ago, and police later froze more than HK$100,000 in the relevant mule account. The family said they were told the account contained commingled funds from multiple scam victims, so neither police nor the bank could directly return the frozen money to her. After exploring legal action, they decided not to continue because the likely legal costs were high and the outcome remained uncertain
Key Points
- A Threads user said the user's mother was cheated out of tens of thousands of Hong Kong dollars in a phone scam about two years ago
- Police later froze more than HK$100,000 in a suspected mule account connected to the case, raising hopes of a partial recovery
- The family said police explained the frozen account was a nominee or mule account holding money from different scam victims together
- The victim first hired a well-known lawyer, paid more than HK$10,000 upfront, then was asked for about HK$20,000 more
- A newly assigned police officer later said legal procedures with the bank were still required, and costs could reach about HK$100,000
Why It Matters
The case shows that freezing suspected scam proceeds does not necessarily mean victims can quickly get their money back, especially when funds are mixed in mule accounts. Lawyer Leung Wing-hang (梁永鏗) told Sing Tao that recovery work is document-heavy, time-consuming and expensive, and he would not advise pursuing it when the amount lost is relatively small. Police figures cited in the report said about HK$2.1 billion in suspected scam proceeds were intercepted last year, but no data was provided on how much victims actually recovered