Loan shark ‘junket people’ arrested

A group of 12 Mainland Chinese have been arrested by the city’s Judiciary Police (PJ) for allegedly running a loan shark group, posing as gaming operators or junkets, local broadcaster TDM Radio News reported.
The suspects printed name cards that imitated cards from gaming operators and junkets to encourage gamblers to take out loans.
The arrested are aged from 27 to 33, with 11 of them from Guangxi Province and one from neighbouring Guangdong Province.
It is suspected that others are managing and controlling the group.
According to the PJ, the criminal group had been operating since November 2015, and was mainly active in Taipa.
It is alleged that gamblers would contact the group for loans and the group would extract a 30 per cent commission.
The PJ also uncovered a scam involving counterfeit banknotes circulating in casinos.
In total, 180 counterfeit notes were found, in a mix of United States currency and Hong Kong dollars. One individual of Canadian descent has been arrested, while two others – one from the Mainland, and the other whose nationality was not revealed – were also apprehended.
The fist individual was discovered by casino staff as the suspect attempted to exchange chips. The suspect was allegedly using both counterfeit and real banknotes.
The counterfeit notes are made of poorer quality paper than their counterparts.
The other two individuals were found in two other casinos, with one Mainland Chinese woman allegedly exchanging chips at the tables with two HK$1,000 (US$129) counterfeit banknotes, and one man using HK$500 at the slot machines.