Recently, the Chinese Embassy in Singapore issued a special document to remind overseas Chinese on this issue!
Source: Embassy of Singapore
On January 13, the Chinese Embassy in Singapore issued a reminder to overseas Chinese, "After some Chinese citizens abroad transfer money to China through local remittance companies, their domestic accounts or funds are frozen by law enforcement authorities in accordance with the law because of the involvement in the case, causing certain losses to personal property." ”
The embassy stressed: "The usual practice is that remittance companies accept foreign currency from customers abroad and transfer the corresponding RMB to the customer's designated account through illegal channels in China. Since most of the funds transferred within China come from unknown sources, and some even involve illegal and criminal activities such as cross-border gambling and telecommunications network fraud, it is very easy for customers' domestic accounts or funds to be frozen by law enforcement authorities in accordance with the law due to the involvement in the case. ”
The embassy reminds Chinese citizens in the open sea: "Do not believe all kinds of so-called "legal" remittance advertisements, and be sure to send money to China through financial institutions that comply with Chinese laws and regulations to avoid unnecessary property losses." In the event that your domestic account is frozen by law enforcement authorities, please take the initiative to contact the case-handling unit and provide relevant supporting materials as required to protect your legitimate rights and interests. ”
Although the reminder was issued by the Chinese embassy in Singapore, the effectiveness was directed at Chinese people around the world.
According to local media reports in Singapore, from 2022 to December 15, 2023, the police received more than 670 reports of bank accounts being frozen after remittances to China, involving an amount of about 70 million yuan.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) issued a statement on 18 December 2023 stating that from 1 January 2024, local licensed cross-border remittance companies will suspend the use of non-bank and non-card channels to send money to individuals in China, and can only send money to China through banks, bank card network operators or licensed financial institutions, and cannot send money through overseas third-party agents. This requirement is valid for 3 months until 31 March 2024.
In Canada, where the regulation of money transfer companies is relatively lax, many money transfer companies are legal in their local operations, but the methods of these companies may be illegal in China.
This method of remittance may seem convenient, but it actually violates Chinese law.
WeChat and Alipay are not outside the law, both of these software have payment functions, and some people will choose to scatter their funds in WeChat, Alipay, and bank cards, so that the amount of a single transaction will be relatively small, and they will not be discovered by the regulatory authorities.
However, I would like to remind everyone that regulatory technology is constantly escalating, and big data can collect the funds of all the linked accounts of a person together, and do not think that seemingly unrelated transactions will not violate the law.
Chinese exchange company laundered 200 million money in 3 years: 7 people were arrested
In 2023, the most reported money laundering cases in the global Chinese media will occur in Australia.
Source: SBS Chinese
The Changjiang Currency Exchange, known locally, was searched on suspicion of laundering $229 million and seven people were arrested. The company has many Chinese customers, and its foreign exchange methods violate China's foreign exchange regulations.
The company transferred money through Alipay, WeChat, and bank cards, which constituted a "disguised purchase and sale of foreign exchange" in China due to the huge amount.
Canadian case: Chinese "ant moving" remittance to buy a house was heavily fined
According to reports, from January 1, 2019, China's new regulations on the reporting of large-value transactions by non-bank payment institutions came into effect, and users who use Alipay or WeChat Pay to purchase purchases of more than RMB 50,000 and transfer amounts of more than RMB 200,000 will be included in the large-value suspicious transactions for monitoring.
Yong Li Wang, a Chinese-Canadian resident originally from Shandong, China, and Hong Jie Wang, an overseas buyer from China's Shandong, have decided to co-finance the purchase of a five-acre detached house in B.C., which is currently valued at $2.15 million.
Due to the annual foreign exchange limit of US$50,000, Wang Hongjie transferred a total of 450,000 Canadian dollars to a Canadian bank in the name of nine Chinese citizens, and transferred another 300,000 Canadian dollars to a British bank account, totaling 750,000 Canadian dollars, and cooperated with Wang Yongli to buy the detached house.
In 2016, the two had a conflict, and Wang Hongjie sued Wang Yongli in the British Columbia Superior Court, arguing that Wang Yongli had committed fraud and breach of contract, and the lawsuit claimed to be independent ownership of the house at 2973 Burns Rd. Wang Yongli flatly denied the allegations.
A few days ago, the presiding judge of the British Columbia Superior Court, Laura Gerow, made a judgment, pointing out that the statements of both the original defendants were not credible, rejecting Wang Hongjie's claim, but requiring both parties to bear their own legal costs.
Most crucially, the judge's judgment made an unprecedented statement on the source of funds for Chinese buyers to buy B.C. properties.
In the judgment, the judge said, "The funds transferred to Canada by Wang Hongjie through the accounts of nine people for the purpose of tourism are not legal transfer methods." Moreover, Wang Hongjie should know that the purpose of entering Canada is to use for investment, so he should also know the legal method of transferring funds. ”
Therefore, Wang Hongjie may lose control of the house because of "illegal transfer methods". This precedent serves as a warning to all Chinese buyers not to try to transfer funds in the Ant Moves style again.
With the tightening of foreign exchange control and the sound legal system abroad, Chinese people must not leave anything to chance when sending money to buy a house, and the remittance channels must be legal and clear.
This means that China not only imposes strict restrictions on the purchase of foreign exchange by individuals, but also requires grassroots banks to strictly enforce the regulations when handling foreign exchange affairs, otherwise they may get themselves into trouble.