China’s Lust for Gold Exploited by Scammers, Money Launderers
- Victims lured by high returns mail gold bars to scammers
- Money laundering convictions rose five-fold from 2019 to 2022
The rise in China of the scam cases shows how the nation’s dearth of jobs and investment opportunities due to the sluggish economy has lead people to seek out alternative ways to make money.
Photographer: Qilai Shen/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Jewelry stores across China have been receiving mysterious, unusually large orders for gold bars from customers who ask for the precious metal to be posted to faraway addresses in the nation.
In one case, an online romance scammer convinced a woman in the eastern city of Hangzhou to buy 19 million yuan ($2.6 million) worth of gold bars as part of an investment plan. She never saw the gold, her money or her so-called love interest again.