More than HK$2.6 billion (US$331 million) from nearly 830 victims of internet and phone scams has been transferred in and out of Hong Kong bank accounts in the first half of 2019.

Half of the illegal money moving through the city was intercepted by officers of the Anti-Deception Coordination Centre, who launched a range of operations to uncover scams that originated in Hong Kong and around the world. The remaining HK$1.3 billion was pocketed by international fraudsters.

Force insiders said the defrauded money was usually laundered through several “layers” of bank accounts before being channelled out of the city – generally in less than 24 hours.

“In each case, our officers had to race against time,” a source said.

A portion of the cash seized by local anti-fraud officers was some US$18 million (HK$140 million) that was scammed from an investment company in Uruguay. It was this year’s largest single loss intercepted by the anti-fraud squad.

According to police, email scammers impersonating a business partner tricked the South American firm into transferring US$18 million into two Hong Kong bank accounts in April.

“The company staff realised it was a scam and made a report to the police through its lawyer in Hong Kong,” a police spokesman said. He said local officers froze the money in the bank accounts before it was siphoned off.

Email scammers typically hack into the computers or email accounts of targeted companies and businesspeople. They use the information to impersonate business partners, clients or executives and order money transfers.

For the first time was since the anti-fraud squad was set up in July 2017, its officers managed to freeze defrauded money in an overseas bank account.

The squad, set up under the Commercial Crime Bureau, pools police resources to handle fraud cases and runs a 24-hour hotline. The special unit collects intelligence, formulates strategies, offers support and organises investigations.

A police source said the transfer of HK$21 million to a bank account in Malaysia was seized in cooperation with Malaysian authorities in January.