500 bogus married couples sought in Hong Kong fake weddings scam

Sep 18, 2009, 4:36 GMT

   Hong Kong - Immigration officials in Hong Kong were searching Friday for 500 couples whose marriages were brokered by a syndicate offering Chinese migrants brides and grooms for cash.

   Six ringleaders of the syndicate, which allegedly found brides and grooms for 500 people from mainland China since 2006, were arrested in a series of raids Thursday, police said.

   The syndicate posted newspaper advertisements seeking Hong Kong people in need of quick cash and paid them 700 to 2,200 US dollars each to marry a Chinese person seeking Hong Kong residency.

   Chinese women would then pay the syndicate 4,500 US dollars to find them a Hong Kong husband while Chinese men paid 3,200 US dollars to the syndicate for a Hong Kong bride.

   The syndicate is believed to have made more than 600,000 US dollars from the bogus marriages, which allow the Chinese spouse to apply for an initial three-month stay and later permanent residency.

   Computers and business records were seized in Thursday's raids and immigration officers and police on Friday were beginning the task of checking up on couples involved in the bogus unions.

   More than 600 people were arrested in Hong Kong in 2008 over alleged bogus marriages, mostly involving people from mainland China marrying Hong Kong men or women to gain residency.

   Hong Kong, a former British colony, is one of the world's wealthiest cities and a magnet for would-be migrants in neighbouring, relatively poor southern China.

   The city of 7 million maintains a separate political and judicial system and border controls under a 'one country, two systems' arrangement, by which it reverted to Chinese sovereignty in 1997.