Doctors and lawyers from US launch action over $150m Chinese scam in Sydney

The global scam unraveled when the US Secret Service became aware of criminals, purporting to be attractive young women, ‘fattening’ up victims by promising big financial returns if they invested in foreign exchange.

American doctors, lawyers and other elite white-collar workers have been forced to launch legal action in the NSW Supreme Court to get their money back from a $150 million Chinese scam.

More than 50 US residents fell victim to a “pig butchering” scam where they were approached on WhatsApp, often by people purporting to be attractive young women, with a promise of big financial returns if they invested in foreign exchange.

The victims were sent pictures of the scammers in Porches and in luxury homes and were encouraged to invest via an app called “MetaTrader”.

But when they transferred their money, it became apparent that it was stolen.

The scammers transferred the money to a series of bank accounts attached to businesses allegedly set up by Asian students who were paid $1500 to have their names attached to the companies.

Four men were charged in Sydney for the sophisticated cyber scam.

According to court documents, the students were allegedly instructed by a mysterious person known to them as “Frozen” on encrypted texting apps.

The scam came undone when the US Secret Service became aware of the operation and tipped off the Australian Federal Police, who froze the money in the local accounts.

Almost 40 of the US victims have now been forced to launch legal action in the NSW Supreme Court in an attempt to recoup their stolen money.

However, documents from the case have revealed they will only get a portion of their money back because a large amount of the money had already been “dissipated” from the accounts.

The court decided the fairest way to redistribute the remaining money was to base it on a hybrid formula based on the proportion of money each person put into the bogus business accounts.

Four Chinese nationals living in Sydney have been charged as part of an investigation into the organised criminal syndicate.

One man, Isen Chen, received almost $1.2 million after investing more than $1.5 million

Others fared better, like Dr Clifford Librach, who received more than $370,000 from the court after investing close to that amount in the scam.

The victims were contacted on messaging apps by women who called themselves “Anne”, “Nancy” and other names, court documents said.

Teh scam started with approaches on apps like WhatsApp

The US residents have launched legal action in the NSW Supreme Court

Court documents said one of the students attempted to transfer more than $13 million of the stolen money after walking into the NAB branch at Broadway Shopping Centre in June 2022.

According to bank records, the student told staff the transfer related to the sale of vitamins and supplements, court documents said.

According to court documents, AFP investigators identified eight Australian-based companies that received more than $151 million from the overseas scammers.

Despite the payouts to the 37 victims, the case is set to continue because more have come forward to claim back their stolen money.

The case is listed to be heard in the Supreme Court on August 8.

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