11 cross-border companies built 300 e-commerce websites and were shut down by the police

Cross-border e-commerce is becoming increasingly difficult, and if you are not careful, you may fall into a criminal vortex. Some people do it unintentionally, but some people "use the name of cross-border e-commerce to commit crimes."

Involving 2.8 billion yuan, 11 cross-border e-commerce companies were shut down by the police

Not long ago , cross-border e-commerce appeared in an in-depth report on CCTV's "News Live Room" column , but the theme was a scam. The case has now been solved, with the amount involved reaching 2.8 billion yuan. 11 cross-border e-commerce companies have been shut down, and 12 suspects have been taken criminal measures by the police in accordance with the law .

According to reports, in June this year, the Zibo Zichuan Branch of Shandong Province noticed that there were abnormal transactions in 28 bank accounts under the name of the main culprit Liu and others , such as frequent transactions with accounts of 11 cross-border e-commerce companies , uninterrupted transactions 24 hours a day , and an average monthly transaction amount of up to 100 million yuan .

Disguised as cross-border e-commerce companies, these 11 companies have established more than 300 sales websites . These websites not only have the same basic settings and web design styles, but even the products they sell are almost the same.

All these signs indicated something was not right, and the police found that these websites not only frequently changed their domain names, but also had no payment channels for goods transactions , which meant that customers could not successfully trade. In addition, the value of goods on the websites was seriously inconsistent with the transaction amounts on the company's books.

The police then followed the clues and conducted research and analysis on the time, amount, frequency , and backend of the websites involved in the transaction , and came to the conclusion that it was very likely that the criminal gang had illegally settled foreign exchange through false cross-border e-commerce trade (i.e., foreign exchange funds were settled in the country through financial institutions ) , and finally transferred the funds to upstream customers through shell company accounts and personal accounts controlled by Liu and others .

By packaging themselves as a cross-border e-commerce company , the suspects deceived financial institutions into settling foreign exchange and illegally transferred gray and black funds to overseas gambling and dating websites. Subsequently, several illegal banks organized by Xu, Gao and others were targeted .

CCTV reported that Xu from Shenzhen YiFu Technology Co., Ltd. and Gao from Shenzhen Pengpai Zhonglian Technology Co., Ltd. are the actual controllers of the above 11 cross-border e-commerce companies.

Yien.com found through Tianyancha that Xu was the supervisor of YiFu Technology . After 2019, he withdrew his investment from the company with a 15% stake, and the company was deregistered on September 14; Pengpai Zhonglian Technology was a company established in 2022 by Xu, in collaboration with Gao Mouliang and others in order to expand its business scope. The company is mainly engaged in information technology and computer software services .

Through investigation, it was found that the organizational structure and business processes of the two companies were basically the same, and they did not hold financial payment qualifications . The transaction volume involved in the case of YiFu Technology was as high as more than 2.1 billion yuan , and the transaction volume involved in the case of Pengpai Zhonglian Technology was as high as more than 700 million yuan.

In the past few years, Xu has transferred and laundered more than 2.8 billion yuan for overseas criminal gangs .

The Zibo Branch set up a special task force for this case . After several days of investigation , the locations of the companies involved in the case in Shenzhen were discovered , and the police rushed to Shenzhen to carry out a concentrated crackdown operation.

In July, the task force conducted searches and arrests on target personnel and workplaces, controlled 10 suspects, checked and controlled 11 computer hosts, and obtained the background data of the company's platform building; 2 people were controlled at the residence of Liu's gang, and a total of 3 laptops and hosts were seized, 46 company seals, 53 U-shiels, and more than 60 company documents.

According to the confessions of the suspects, since 2021, the gangs of Xu and Gao have transferred more than 2.8 billion yuan to overseas criminal gangs, and have made illegal profits of more than 30 million yuan based on handling fees ranging from 1% to 2% .

In addition , the gangs led by Yang Moujiang and Liu Mou specifically set up shell companies in Chongqing, Guizhou and other provinces to receive illegal foreign exchange settlement funds from the gangs led by Xu Mou and Gao Mouliang, earning a handling fee of 0.3% and making illegal profits of more than 3 million yuan.

At present, Xu and 12 other criminal suspects have been taken criminal coercive measures by the police in accordance with the law, and the case is still under further investigation.

Cross-border e-commerce companies have repeatedly been “disguised” as frauds, and crimes are emerging in an endless stream

In fact, this type of crime of money laundering in the form of foreign exchange settlement is not uncommon in the cross-border circle.

Just last year, there was a similar case involving money laundering using cross-border e-commerce.

It is reported that between 2016 and 2019, Jiang's gang used other people's identity information to set up companies in the country, and in the name of these companies, reached cross-border payment cooperation with third-party payment settlement institutions.

Afterwards, Jiang and others conducted illegal foreign exchange transactions through a shell cross-border e-commerce company and charged a certain percentage of the handling fee.

Last year, the Huanggang police in Hubei organized a special task force and rushed to Shenzhen to close the net. During the operation, they seized more than 10 mobile phones used by the suspects to commit crimes, more than 40 bank cards for transfers, 16 computers and thousands of account documents. They also arrested six suspects including Li and Jiang, and took criminal coercive measures.

In the past few years, the gangs led by Li and Jiang have illegally operated underground banks in the name of cross-border e-commerce companies, transferring more than 2 billion yuan in funds overseas and making millions of yuan in profits.

Using cross-border e-commerce to package and set up companies that are actually engaged in illegal activities such as money laundering is a common practice used by cross-border money laundering gangs. There have been many such cases in the past few years.

In 2020, the Taizhou Municipal Public Security Bureau discovered through investigation that Jiang's gang was suspected of providing money laundering services to overseas fraud groups for more than 100 times, with the funds involved reaching more than 50 million yuan. Finally, 12 main members of the gang were arrested.

The relevant departments have always been pursuing the "black and gray industry chain" in the cross-border e-commerce field , especially when the field is developing faster and faster, all kinds of monsters and demons have emerged. As for foreign exchange settlement, the risk of "money laundering" has long existed, and the relevant departments have always strictly investigated the transfer funds of unknown origin, and the larger the amount, the stricter the inspection.

Although there have been severe crackdowns in the past few years, "high risks bring high returns", so such cases still occur from time to time.

At the same time, more and more cross-border sellers have also paid attention to the security issues of foreign exchange settlement, but there are still sellers who seek convenience and cheapness to settle foreign exchange with unknown institutions.

There have been news reports before that a seller on Amazon with annual sales of 200 million yuan was investigated by relevant departments for anti-money laundering due to irregular foreign exchange settlement . He was making good money and his money-making channels were reasonable, compliant and legal, but after the money was in his pocket, he found that he had committed an economic crime. He just wanted to get a bargain but ended up "clevering himself".

Such cross-border "victims" are still common nowadays. When it comes to import and export trade, foreign exchange is indispensable, which also gives criminals an opportunity to take advantage of it. Sellers must be cautious and pay foreign exchange in a formal manner, and don't foolishly become a member of a criminal gang.

Cross-border

Illegal