Hong Kong Appeals Court Upholds Prison Term for Human Trafficking Convict
A Hong Kong appeals court has upheld a 56-month prison term for Ma Zhihao, convicted of participating in a human trafficking operation that lured victims with fake job offers.
The court relied on blockchain transaction records to link the ransom paid by one victim's family to an exchange account registered in Ma's name. Police found that 8,127 USDT was transferred from the ransom to the exchange account, which was then converted into about HK$63,000 and deposited into Ma's HSBC bank account.
The trafficking network used various recruitment methods, including fake job offers on Facebook, Telegram, and Instagram, to lure victims to Southeast Asia. Once there, they were confined and forced to participate in scam operations. One victim was held captive for months before his family paid a ransom of over 9,500 USDT, which investigators later tracked through the blockchain.