A crackdown by the Ministry of Public Security on money changers has recently ensnared more than 100 suspects.
This is according to the ministry, whose spokesman pledged greater attention to the illicit practice at a media briefing on Friday.
The number of members of ‘money exchange gangs’ involved in illegal foreign exchange activities in Macau has increased significantly, Chen Shiqu, deputy crime bureau chief of the ministry, said.
As a result, there has been a marked increase in the incidents of fraud, robbery, theft, kidnapping and illegal immigration arising from these operations, he added.
The authorities said these gangs were mostly controlled by “hidden financiers”, with the exchange of Hong Kong dollars and renminbi being conducted through underground banks in neighbouring Zhuhai.
Such underground operations are believed to have generated annual profits of more than HKD1.5 billion (US$190 million/MOP1.55 billion) .
Citing recent law enforcement efforts, authorities said a suspect caught in Jilin was involved in a scam involving RMB10 million.
In addition, in Jiangxi Province, law enforcement officials successfully cracked down on a network involved in the illegal sale of immigration documents.
This operation resulted in 30 arrests, while more than 100 illegal immigrants to Macau were found to have been involved in such operations.
Earlier this week, Seaport Research Partners analyst Vitaly Umansky warned of the negative impact of a nationwide crackdown on unofficial currency exchange.
Official operations in response to such covert activities could lead to the postponement of travel to Macau from mainland China, he suggested.
Macau-based gaming law expert and Macau Business columnist António Lobo Vilela noted in an opinion article published in January that “these ‘money changers’ have devised an intricate and sophisticated scheme to move funds across different jurisdictions without crossing any borders,” adding that the scheme “is currently the primary unofficial channel for providing funds to gamblers in Macau.”
Vilela also stressed that “this is a complex topic because of the disadvantages that the absence of ‘money changers’ entails, especially for the ‘six large integrated tourism and leisure companies’ [gaming concessionaires].”
