China cracks down on money-changing syndicates in Macau
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Macau, known as the Las Vegas of the East, is the only city in China where gambling is legal.
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HONG KONG - Loan sharks earn tens of millions of dollars a year by providing underground money exchange services and cash smuggling networks for Chinese gamblers in Macau, China’s Public Security Ministry said on July 5.
Macau, known as the Las Vegas of the East, is the only city in China where gambling is legal, but the mainland Chinese visitors who fuel the city’s multibillion-dollar economic pillar are bound by the country’s strict foreign exchange controls.
Under those restrictions, a Chinese citizen is allowed to change no more than US$50,000 (S$67,500) worth of yuan into foreign currency in a given year and to carry no more than US$5,000 in cash in or out of that country on any one trip.
Mr Chen Shiqu, deputy crime bureau chief of Beijing’s Public Security Ministry, said on July 5 there had been a surge in recent years of illegal “money-changing parties”, state media reported.
These parties changed Chinese yuan into Hong Kong dollars in underground banks in Zhuhai – a mainland city adjacent to Macau – and hired a stream of individuals to smuggle the cash across the border to gamblers “like ants moving home”, he said.
“Each year, the money masters behind the scenes make profits of more than HK1.5 billion (S$259 million) and the profiteering drive has led to the rapid expansion of the groups,” he added.
In one case, a syndicate of more than 30 people recruited more than 100 cash smugglers on the Chinese video platform Douyin by posing as a hiring agency. AFP
