UK sanctions scam network ‘masterminds’ who bought London properties

The UK has sanctioned two Chinese men accused of running “industrial-scale” scams from south-east Asia, freezing assets including 19 London properties.

Chen Zhi and Qiu Wei Ren were both added to the UK sanctions list on Tuesday as part of an international crackdown on fraud, along with a series of businesses linked to them.

Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said the men were the “masterminds” behind “horrific scam centres” that used force labour in Cambodia and Myanmar to trick victims across the world.

She said they were “ruining the lives of vulnerable people and buying up London homes to store their money”.

The Foreign Office said Chen led a network of scam centres in Cambodia and Myanmar that used forced labour to trick victims across the world into handing over their money through fake romantic relationships and fraudulent cryptocurrency schemes.

The people working in these centres are often foreign nationals lured into working there with the promise of legitimate jobs and then trapped and forced to carry out the scams under threat of torture.

Through his company, The Prince Group, Chen is said to have built casinos and compounds used as scam centres, as well as laundering the proceeds.

His UK assets include a £12 million mansion near Primrose Hill, in London, and 10 Fenchurch Street, an office building in the City of London bought through one of his companies for £95 million in 2020.

Qiu’s assets include seven flats in the CentrePoint Tower at the end of Oxford Street, and 10 flats in the Nine Elms development near the new US embassy in south-west London, in one of the buildings that holds up the development’s “Sky Pool”.

Both men were born in China but hold Cambodian and Cypriot citizenship. Chen also holds Vanuatu citizenship, while Qiu holds Hong Kong citizenship.

They have been sanctioned as part of a joint operation with US authorities.

Ms Cooper added: “Together with our US allies, we are taking decisive action to combat the growing transnational threat posed by this network – upholding human rights, protecting British nationals and keeping dirty money off our streets.”

As well as sanctioning the two men, the UK has imposed restrictions on four companies linked to the scam network, including Chen’s Prince Group, Jin Bei Group, Golden Fortune Resorts World Ltd and Byex Exchange.

Both Jin Bei Group and Golden Fortune Resorts are said to operate scam centres, including two that were named in an Amnesty International report earlier this year detailing the use of forced labour and torture in Cambodian scamming compounds.

Also sanctioned were Ing Dara and Zhu Zhongbiao, Cambodian directors of the Jin Bei Group; Chinese national Lei Bo; and Cambodian national Guy Chhay.

Both Lei and Guy are directors of the Uni More Group, a company linked to the scam network that has also been sanctioned along with the Cambodian Heng Xin Real Estate Group.

The US Treasury said it had designated the Prince Group as a “transnational criminal organisation”, imposing sanctions and charging Chen with a litany of offences that could carry a combined total of 40 years in prison.