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Regulatory Watch News

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  Instant Message Alert – Phishing instant messages related to Welab Bank Limited

  HKMA

  January 2, 2025

  The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) wishes to alert members of the public to a press release issued by Welab Bank Limited relating to phishing instant messages, which have been reported to the HKMA.  A hyperlink to the press release is available on the HKMA website.

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  Chinese ‘drug catcher’ jailed in WA after international investigation

  Australia Federal Police

  January 2, 2025

  A juvenile Chinese national has been sentenced to more than six years’ imprisonment for his involvement in a failed plot to import 5.4kg of methamphetamine into Australia and traffic it in Western Australia. The male, 17, was sentenced in the Perth Children’s Court on 11 December, 2024, to six years and seven months’ imprisonment, with a non-parole period of three years and one month. The AFP charged the juvenile on 25 June, 2024, after an investigation supported by Hong Kong authorities and Australian Border Force (ABF). The investigation started that same month when ABF officers in Sydney intercepted a consignment from Hong Kong that contained 6kg of cocaine.

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  Treasury Sanctions Entities in Iran and Russia That Attempted to Interfere in the U.S. 2024 Election

  OFAC

  December 31, 2024

  WASHINGTON – Today, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is designating a subordinate organization of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and a Moscow-based affiliate organization of the Russian Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) and its director pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13848, the U.S. election interference authority. As affiliates of the IRGC and GRU, these actors aimed to stoke socio-political tensions and influence the U.S. electorate during the 2024 U.S. election. Today’s actions build on sanctions previously imposed on the IRGC, the GRU, and their numerous subordinate and proxy organizations, pursuant to several authorities targeting the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and malicious cyber-enabled activities.