Hong Kong police display seized cash, computer equipment, luxury handbags and promotional leaflets at a press conference in Hong Kong on Sept 19, 2023, regarding the arrests of eight people with ties to cryptocurrency platform JPEX. (PHOTO / AFP)

The Hong Kong Police Force and Macao Judiciary Police conducted a joint operation on Tuesday and Thursday, arresting four people with HK$24 million ($3.07 million) of assets being seized or frozen related to the fraud case of virtual asset platform JPEX, the police said in a news briefing on Friday.

Hong Kong police said some people of interest have already left Hong Kong, but they will try to have them arrested through international cooperation.

The police have received reports from 2,417 people, involving more than HK$1.5 billion, and they described JPEX as a fraud case involving the most victims and the largest financial loss in recent years

The police said they had arrested 14 people as of Tuesday, including the alleged persons in charge and staff of related over-the-counter currency exchange shops, and had identified the core personnel of the fraud network.

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The police have received reports from 2,417 people, involving more than HK$1.5 billion, and they described JPEX as a fraud case involving the most victims and the largest financial loss in recent years.

The police added that the JPEX fraud network is very large and complex. As the current investigation is in the initial stage, the police will utilize all the resources of the Crime Wing and activate the major incident investigation and disaster support system, commonly known as a supercomputer, to analyze and investigate information, hoping to find the mastermind behind the fraud network and recover the stolen money.

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The police said they face difficulties in tracing the fraudulent money and conducting investigations as the criminal group has destroyed many documents. The police will continue to contact overseas trading platforms to track the whereabouts of virtual assets. For the time being, cryptocurrency assets with a total value of HK$5 million have been frozen.