A Hong Kong man has been arrested on suspicion of fraud after allegedly providing his personal information to a syndicate to create ride-hailing platform accounts for use by multiple drivers.
Police arrested the 53-year-old man on Wednesday night on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud, in connection with suspected illegal work involving the Chinese navigation and ride-hailing app Amap.
Apart from providing his information to the syndicate, the suspect also used accounts provided by the group to accept ride-hailing orders, although the accounts did not belong to him.
At a press conference on Thursday, Superintendent Li Muk-yik said the arrest was linked to a police report filed by a passenger who took a ride in Tsuen Wan that he had booked online and found that the driver was “unusually unfamiliar” with the route. The driver spoke only Mandarin and admitted that he did not hold a Hong Kong identity card.
The case details matched a post on Threads earlier this week, in which a user said he had requested a ride via Alipay, which connected him to ride-hailing services on Amap. After boarding the car, the passenger realised the driver was a mainland Chinese man who spoke only Mandarin and could not understand Cantonese.
Police investigations found that the case involved a fraud syndicate, Li said. To become a driver on the platform, one must register an account with individual service providers linked to Amap.
The syndicate allegedly created accounts using the personal information of various people, then arranged for others to use those accounts to accept orders. It is unclear whether the drivers were qualified to operate vehicles in Hong Kong, police said, adding that the syndicate profited by taking commissions.
Li said police are currently pursuing three more suspects, including one of the syndicate’s core members, who allegedly recruited people to provide their personal data for account registration, arranged vehicles, and hired drivers. The remaining two wanted individuals are a driver involved in the case and the owner of a registered car.
Conspiracy to defraud is punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
Ride-hailing apps currently operate in a grey area in Hong Kong, which requires vehicles offering such services to have a hire car permit. Private vehicle owners who sign up with online platforms without a permit face a maximum penalty of six months in jail and a HK$10,000 fine for a first offence.
There has been no major law enforcement operation targeting ride-hailing drivers, although some have been arrested. Meanwhile, ride-hailing services – especially Uber – have grown in popularity amid long-standing dissatisfaction with taxi services.
Earlier this month, a mainland Chinese man was jailed for two months for offering ride-hailing services via Amap and breaching his conditions of stay as a travel permit holder.
Last month, the government submitted a legislative proposal to regulate ride-hailing services. The authorities suggested capping the number of ride-hailing cars allowed in the city, but the proposal did not specify a limit.
