A Chinese national has been charged by the AFP for allegedly using an Australian-based crime syndicate to launder $100 million obtained from victims who fell for a global investment scam. The 37-year-old Melbourne man is the seventh person to face charges under Operation Wickham, a joint effort between the AFP and the United States Secret Service (USSS).
The man was charged with one count of recklessly engaging in conduct related to the proceeds of general crime exceeding $10 million and providing unregistered remittance services under the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006. These offenses carry maximum penalties of 15 and 2 years’ imprisonment, respectively.
Operation Wickham began in August 2022 when the USSS informed the AFP-led Joint Policing Cybercrime Coordination Centre (JPC3) about the transfer of allegedly scammed funds from the US to an Australian business bank account. The investigation uncovered over $160 million allegedly stolen from victims worldwide, with the majority being from the US.
It is alleged that more than $100 million of the stolen funds were laundered through the Changjiang Currency Exchange or transferred to Australian bank accounts associated with fake Australian businesses. The bank accounts were controlled by the Long River money laundering organization, secretly operating the Changjiang Currency Exchange, a prominent money remitting chain in Australia.
The AFP claims that the accused, while working at the Changjiang Currency Exchange, was involved in procuring straw directors and dummy account holders for money laundering entities. He oversaw the establishment of companies and their associated bank accounts to evade Australia’s anti-money laundering laws, particularly those related to funds transfers.
The scam involved exploiting an investment application called MetaTrader and other platforms dealing in foreign exchange and cryptocurrencies. The criminal syndicate allegedly produced software that misrepresented the true market value of currency rates, leading victims to believe they were making significant returns on their investments.
The offshore syndicate used Chinese nationals in Australia, primarily on student visas, to set up sham Australian companies, trading licenses with ASIC, and bank accounts linked to these sham businesses for laundering the scammed funds through the Changjiang Currency Exchange.
To date, the AFP-led Criminal Assets Confiscation Taskforce has restrained over $21 million held in Australian bank accounts suspected to be the proceeds of the investment scam.
The JPC3, comprising various Australian policing jurisdictions and international law enforcement and industry partners, works to identify and disrupt organized cybercriminals targeting Australia.
The scam involved contacting victims, primarily in the US, through text messages on communication apps or social media platforms, gaining their trust, encouraging them to invest in legitimate trading platforms, and scamming them out of large sums of money by manipulating trading platform data.
The public is advised to exercise caution when approached by unknown entities online regarding investment opportunities, as if something seems too good to be true, it likely is.
