Svmuu reported that the Hong Kong police have cracked a cross-border telephone fraud case. The criminal syndicate, impersonating mainland officials, specifically targeted mainland students studying in the UK and Australia. The scammers falsely claimed that the victims were involved in criminal cases such as money laundering, demanding they "cooperate with the investigation" and travel to Hong Kong to purchase gold granules multiple times at jewelry stores as "surety bonds." Each transaction was kept under 120,000 Hong Kong dollars to circumvent the gold shop registration system. The gold was then collected and moved by syndicate members. The acquired gold granules were subsequently smelted into gold bars or exchanged for cash and virtual currency. The police have received a total of 7 related cases involving approximately 7 million Hong Kong dollars, with the highest single-case loss reaching 1.6 million Hong Kong dollars. (Source: Hong Kong Wen Wei Po)