On January 28th, at Tivat Airport in the small European country of Montenegro, a Chinese man holding a Vanuatu passport was arrested on the spot by border police. That day, the man took a private plane from the Maldives to Montenegro. During the Montenegrin police's check of passenger information, his identity was quickly locked in the Interpol database—he was Wang Shuiming, the "mastermind of telecom fraud," who has been wanted by domestic police since August 2023.
Two years ago, Wang Shuiming was arrested in Singapore's largest money laundering case and was deported to Japan after serving his sentence last year.
From underground casinos in the Philippines to secret money laundering in Singapore, from a brief hideout in Japan to his final arrest in Montenegro, Wang Shuiming's escape trajectory outlines the full panorama of his transnational criminal network. According to incomplete statistics from Qingliu Studio, Wang Shuiming owns passports from at least four countries and has assets spread across seven countries globally.
In mid-February, according to local media reports, Montenegro will extradite Wang Shuiming back to China, and his appeal against extradition has been rejected.
Starting from Online Gambling and Illegal Lending
Wang Shuiming, a native of Anxi County, Fujian, is 44 years old this year, with a registered address in Siming District, Xiamen City, Fujian Province, holding passports from Vanuatu, Cambodia, and Turkey.
Prior to 2023, public information about Wang Shuiming was scarce, and his rise to wealth was quite mysterious.
According to Singaporean media citing informed sources, between 2012 and 2013, Wang Shuiming opened a gambling website in the Philippines, becoming one of the first Fujianese to engage in online gambling there, and soon became a local industry leader, nicknamed "Ming Da" and "Boss Ming."
By 2016, Wang Shuiming's business had accumulated substantial funds and began to expand, with many underground gambling operators from Fujian moving to the Philippines to join him.
At its peak, Wang Shuiming's operation had at least 7 to 10 online gambling groups, each operating multiple online gambling platforms, with a workforce of over ten thousand, including managers, promoters, technicians, and financial staff, with monthly payroll alone estimated to exceed 100 million yuan.
According to Qingliu Studio's inquiry, in December 2016, a person named "Wang Shuiming" registered a company called DAMING IT SERVICES CO in Cambodia, with the registered address in Fujian. The name of DAMING IT SERVICES CO matches the nickname "Boss Ming" mentioned in previous reports. Currently, the company is still registered.
In China, Wang Shuiming's earliest business traces appeared in August 2010. That year, he and Su Weiyi co-founded Xiamen Mingxin Guarantee Limited Company (hereinafter referred to as "Xiamen Mingxin Guarantee").
Years later, when the money laundering case in Singapore was exposed, Wang Shuiming told the police that his funds came from lending businesses in China. Later, the Singaporean police discovered that Wang Shuiming was involved in illegal lending businesses.
Wang Shuiming's partner, Su Weiyi, was confirmed to be the mastermind behind the Hong Kong cryptocurrency platform scam Atom Asset Exchange. In November 2022, Atom Asset Exchange suddenly became unable to withdraw funds and subsequently collapsed, with Su Weiyi absconding with 16.74 million Hong Kong dollars (about 15.675 million yuan). In July 2024, Su Weiyi was arrested by the Hong Kong police. It is worth mentioning that Su Weiyi and other partners own other companies, which are associated with the convicted former Filipino-Chinese mayor Alice Guo (Guo Huaping).
The media noted that Wang Shuiming and company partner Su Weiyi appeared together in more than one company.
In 2016, Su Weiyi established Zongwang Digital Technology Limited Company (hereinafter referred to as "Zongwang Digital") in Taipei City. In 2021, Wang Shuiming became the "manager" of this company.
In addition to Taipei's Zongwang Digital, earlier in 2007, Su Weiyi established Xiamen Zongwang Digital Technology Limited Company (hereinafter referred to as "Xiamen Zongwang") across the strait in Xiamen. Public enterprise information shows that Xiamen Zongwang holds more than ten software copyrights, including a "telemarketing outbound call system."
It was not until 2023 that Wang Shuiming's criminal clues surfaced.
On August 2, 2023, the Zibo police issued a notice stating that in May 2022, the police successfully dismantled the Hengbo Baowang Group, which was engaged in gambling websites, applications, online gambling platform development and maintenance work for profit, providing, renting to others or self-operating for opening casinos, and obtaining huge benefits. 131 suspects were arrested, and more than 10 million yuan of involved funds were seized, frozen, and recovered. As of that time, there were still 9 suspects illegally staying abroad.
Wang Shuiming was one of these 9 suspects. However, public clues show that as early as 2019, Wang Shuiming had already moved to Singapore with his family and set up a series of companies domestically and abroad, transferring huge illegal income.
Money Laundering in Singapore
According to inquiries, between 2019 and 2021, Wang Shuiming established or invested in four companies in Singapore.
In September 2019, Wang Shuiming registered MING XIN (SINGAPORE) TECHNOLOGY in Singapore. The main business of this company is "software and application development."
In July 2020, Wang Shuiming also registered ZHUO CHI TECHNOLOGY in Singapore, which also mainly engages in "software and application development." Subsequently, in October 2020, Wang Shuiming and his wife established MING HUANG INVESTMENTS.
In October 2020, a company named Golden WHH was established in Singapore, and Wang Shuiming became a shareholder of this company from 2021 to 2023.
Domestically, apart from Xiamen Mingxin Guarantee, Wang Shuiming also expanded his company's territory. In December 2020, Wang Shuiming and his wife Wang Ruiyan acquired shares in Xiamen Likanxing Commercial Trade Limited Company (hereinafter referred to as "Xiamen Likan") and Xiamen Yetian Commercial Trade Limited Company (hereinafter referred to as "Xiamen Yetian") successively.
This series of companies later played a crucial role in Wang Shuiming's money laundering process to Singapore.
On August 15, 2023, more than 400 Singaporean police officers launched a raid, cracking the largest money laundering case in Singapore's history, involving an amount of 3 billion Singapore dollars (about 16 billion yuan).
The Singaporean police arrested 10 suspects on the spot. These suspects, aged between 31 and 44, were originally from Fujian and were known as the "Fujian Gang." They held multiple passports and used forged documents, shell companies, and cryptocurrencies to "launder" funds from illegal gambling and fraud in Southeast Asia, investing in high-end assets in Singapore and overseas. Among them, 5 people shared the same names as fugitives announced by domestic police, involved in organized crimes such as telecom fraud and online gambling.
Wang Shuiming was one of these 10 suspects.
According to the investigation by the Singaporean police, during the period from 2021 to 2022, when responding to inquiries from multiple financial institutions about the source of funds, Wang Shuiming submitted forged financial statements and bank statements from the aforementioned three domestic companies. For example, Wang Shuiming told Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd and UOB Kay Hian Pte Ltd that his funds came from the earnings of three domestic companies and provided forged financial statements. In response to Citibank's inquiry, Wang Shuiming submitted a forged bank statement from China Merchants Bank, although he actually did not have an account with China Merchants Bank.
Initially, in his statements to the Singaporean police, Wang Shuiming claimed that his funds came from his lending business in China, but later changed his statement, claiming that these funds came from his gambling and real estate investment earnings in the Philippines.
Wang Shuiming had multiple connections with other arrested suspects. For example, he and Wang Shuiting are brothers—the latter is also a fugitive suspect in the Hengbo Baowang Group case. He and Lin Baoying are partners in the Singaporean company Golden WHH, and he has intersections with Wang Bingang at Zongwang Digital. Additionally, he has close relationships with Su Haijin, Su Baolin, and others...
Eventually, Wang Shuiming was sentenced to 13 months and 6 weeks of imprisonment in Singapore. After serving his sentence, Wang Shuiming was deported to Japan in June 2024.
China and Singapore do not have an extradition treaty. Because Wang Shuiming and others were deported instead of being repatriated, this caused controversy in Singapore at the time.
Assets Spread Across the Globe
Compared to the more than 10 million yuan seized by domestic police in the Hengbo Baowang Group case, the scale of assets Wang Shuiming "laundered" and transferred to Singapore is obviously much more substantial.
Among the 10 defendants in the Singapore money laundering case, Wang Shuiming, who was charged with the most crimes, was also the "richest." According to statistics, Wang Shuiming's assets seized by the Singaporean police totaled 199 million Singapore dollars (about 1.074 billion yuan), of which about 179 million Singapore dollars were confiscated after the case was adjudicated.
Although he had been in Singapore for only four years, Wang Shuiming and his wife already owned 15 properties there. Among them, Wang Shuiming and his wife owned 4 apartments on Beach Road in Singapore; one apartment in the luxury project Park Nova on Tanglin Road, Orchard Road; and 10 apartments in Canninghill Piers in the core area—reportedly, Wang Shuiming bought these in 2022, and the funds used to purchase this batch of apartments came from Indonesia.
In the 27 bank accounts under Wang Shuiming's name, deposits exceeded 122 million Singapore dollars (equivalent to 660 million yuan). In addition, the cash he was found with amounted to 967,000 Singapore dollars (equivalent to 5.213 million yuan). Additionally, Wang Shuiming also had a fund income of 3 million US dollars (about 21.8514 million yuan).
The police also seized three luxury cars under his wife's name—including a Rolls-Royce Phantom, a Bentley Flying Spur, and a Toyota Alphard; 25 luxury brand bags and 8 branded watches; multiple bottles of wine, etc.
It is worth mentioning that before his arrest, Wang Shuiming was a member of the Sentosa Golf Club in Singapore—the local entry fee is about 580,000 Singapore dollars (about 3.127 million yuan), and the entry fee for foreigners is as high as 990,000 Singapore dollars (about 5.337 million yuan).
Wang Shuiming also donated 137,700 Singapore dollars (about 740,000 yuan) to the local charity Rainbow Centre.
Wang Shuiming's parents had traveled to and from Singapore by private plane, but the ownership of the plane was not disclosed.
Wang Shuiming's properties in Singapore are just a part of his global asset portfolio.
According to the investigation by the Singaporean police, Wang Shuiming also owns substantial assets outside of Singapore.
Domestically, Wang Shuiming's company investments amount to 32 million yuan; he owns a factory worth several million yuan; he owns two apartments in Xiamen worth a total of 20 million yuan; Wang Shuiming's bank account in Hong Kong has 2 million Hong Kong dollars in deposits and cryptocurrencies worth 110,000 US dollars.
In Cambodia, Wang Shuiming owns three plots of land worth 18 million US dollars.
In Turkey, Wang Shuiming also invested 500,000 US dollars in assets.
However, this is likely not the full extent of Wang Shuiming's assets. The Singaporean police investigation found that Wang Shuiming used local bank accounts to receive large sums of money transferred from Indonesia, indicating that he may also have financial sources in Indonesia. Additionally, Wang Shuiming personally admitted to having real estate investment income in the Philippines. According to foreign media investigations, Wang Shuiming also owns an apartment in Hong Kong worth more than 11 million US dollars.
Wang Shuiming's assets spread across multiple countries are inseparable from his multiple nationalities.
According to Wang Shuiming's statement in court, he obtained passports from Turkey, Vanuatu, and Cambodia by making donations to these countries. Wang Shuiming and his wife have a son and a daughter. They all hold passports from Turkey, China, and Vanuatu. Before being arrested by the Singaporean police, Wang Shuiming had also applied for a passport from the island nation in the Americas—Saint Kitts and Nevis. However, whether he ultimately obtained this passport is unknown.
It is worth noting that a recent report by the Pacific Economic Research Institute pointed out that Wang Shuiming is also suspected of expanding his illegal online gambling business to Palau.
In December 2024, after being released from prison, Wang Shuiming registered a real estate company called Bright Sky Limited in Montenegro.
This means that Wang Shuiming's global criminal network has extended to regions outside of China, the Philippines, and Singapore.
