Taiwanese police recently cracked a major transnational fraud and money laundering case, discovering that a criminal group has been using virtual currency fraud proceeds to convert funds into gold and smuggle them to Cambodia to launder money for overseas fraud groups. The total weight of the gold bars involved may exceed 300 kilograms.
The police pointed out that since July 2023, the group has been sending out about 30 kilograms of gold by air every month, often disguised as "door stops" and hidden in parcels to confuse the authorities, with the destination being the Cambodian fraud parks and related money laundering points.
On June 9, the task force intercepted two parcels prepared to be sent to Cambodia and Vietnam, finding gold bars wrapped in lead alloy hidden inside. The next day, the police searched the residence of a man surnamed Li, seizing 12 kilograms of gold that had not yet been shipped; subsequently, they found 4 "door stops" at the residence of a suspect surnamed Chen, and after cutting them open, discovered 12 gold bars, totaling 12 kilograms as well.
So far, the police have seized 24 kilograms of gold and estimated that the group has successfully shipped out over 300 kilograms, almost all of which has flowed into the hands of illegal groups in Cambodia.
The investigation revealed that the group defrauded victims through a fake investment platform, inducing them to remit money or transfer virtual currency, and then laundered the funds through underground financial flows and physical transportation, constituting a typical underground exchange and physical money laundering mechanism.
Currently, the police have identified 169 victims, with the amount involved reaching 600 million New Taiwan Dollars (approximately 20 million US dollars), and are continuing to trace the remaining money flow and whereabouts of accomplices.
