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No. of CompaniesComplainedTotal Reported Losses(HK$ million)2003 2004 % Change11 11 /0.27 0.26 4%↓West African Fraud4.15 Five West Africans were arrested during the year, one of whombeing a Hong Kong resident. One of the reports was a case of “black money”.The perpetrators used pieces of black paper intending to deceive people tobelieve them to be stained banknotes that could be cleansed by using a specialsolution. The victim was invited to contribute money to purchase the solutionin return for a portion of the “cleansed” money. This case resulted in theconviction of two West Africans who were sentenced to 21 months and 24months imprisonment respectively. Relevant figures are as follows -2003 2004 % ChangeNo. of Reported Cases 7 4 43%↓Total Reported Losses(HK$ million)10.4 2.41 76.8%↓No. of Persons Arrested 1 5 /Unsolicited E-MailsReceived4,961 3,899 21.4%↓Unsolicited LettersReceived783 184 76.5%↓4.16 Reports on this type of fraud remained at a low level. Thedownward trend is mainly attributed to the increasing public awareness throughmedia coverage on related cases and successful police operation, as well aseducation through regular police publicity campaigns.Fraud Related to Bankruptcy4.17 There was a significant decrease of 78% in the number of reportsreceived in 2004 compared to 2003. The total amount of monetary loss for thesame period also dropped by 31%.4.18 In 2004, there were 11 prosecutions for cases of deception relatingto this type of fraud with nine convictions. The reasons for the significant111
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