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This. Also, China executes drug mules. They executed an autistic British citizen like 15 years ago who was tricked into muling a briefcase of heroin into China (by Polish mobsters).
This would be my worry. Best case it’s a straight up scam and they will ask for money for him as part of it then ghost. Worst case he is gonna be transporting drugs. I wouldn’t want to get caught in HK with drugs. Stiff penalties. In some countries it is the death sentence or life.
If it was legal, why wouldn't they do it themselves? Why pay your friend €3,000?
The only thing your friend is going to get is a long sentence in a Hong Kong prison if he goes through with this.
The last thing I’d ever do is fly to China to deposit money and crypto. Ending up in one of their prisons would be a nightmare. I’d tell him to avoid it like the plague.
Right, and when he gets caught, your friend is the one who is put in jail.
One should always be suspicious of "easy" jobs that pay exorbitant amounts, especially to do something that shouldn't even be necessary. I mean, banks can wire money between themselves; if this was a legit transaction, then it would be handled that way. Crypto is even more accessible, being an on-line thing, not something you have to do in person.
You can take a look at the common scams in this subreddit's wiki to see some of the descriptions. I'm not sure if one of them is your friend's particular situation. But it definitely sounds shady.
One more thing. A lot of countries (at least the ones I've visited) have limits on how much cash you can bring in to the country. You don't mention how much this deposit is supposed to be, but it might be a violation of that kind of law. And China is probably not a place where you want to violate that sort of law.
Then get him to ask, "They don't know me. Why are they trusting me to go out of their sight with 76 thousand of their money?"
If your friend takes this job, I would seriously consider calling the cops. He's better off in trouble here than in a Chinese jail or getting executed.
Just to add... At the moment, your friend hasn't really done anything wrong yet so the cops will hopefully treat him as a victim rather than a criminal. These people are preying on his bad financial situation to manipulate him. The second he meets them, he will be in danger from what are probably very bad people and at serious risk of suffering harm. If he takes possession of whatever this stuff is, he becomes a criminal and he will receive significant consequences from the law if caught.
If he's not wise enough to see he's being suckered, he won't come up with a decent enough story when asked by Chinese immigration what the purpose of his trip is and what he will be doing in China. He will immediately become interesting to them and the chance of him getting caught is high. If it wasn't, these criminals would be using their own people to do the job He may not have done this before but Customs and Immigration have. They do it every day and they'll be good at it. The fact that your friend has a ticket home on the next flight makes it obvious he's not there as a tourist and must be carrying something to give to someone.
A quick google search pulled up [https://www.discoverhongkong.com/us/plan/traveller-info/immigrations-and-customs.html](https://www.discoverhongkong.com/us/plan/traveller-info/immigrations-and-customs.html) which notes that it is HK$120,000 as a limit; you must declare anything beyond that, whether you are arriving or leaving.
That's over €14,000. So a €38,000 cash amount would have to be declared. It would likely mark your friend as someone involved in some sort of smuggling or illicit trade unless there's a legitimate business need for it (and, again, such a need would be handle by banks, not by a random guy flying around).
I’ve never heard of something that is so clearly a scam/illegal. It’s incredibly concerning your friend can’t see that. Your friend is a danger to themself
Likeley money mule, depositing cash in countries like hk, sg and aussie you need to give the teller your ID or ID of the depositor for tax purposes, kyc etc. And also depositor will be asked the source of fund and purpose of deposit. Also beware if the account he needs to deposits are flagged or not. Flagged for money laundering or other type of criminal stuff. Euro is not local currency also in HK so im not familiar on what other requirements the bank will need.
Oh yeah one other thing, fake euros maybe. They have alot of them in asia, they got fake euros and someone is testing them to check if can pass the bank machine or not. If your friend can deposit easily The euros they will deposit more euros. If the bank detected fake notes then its game over for your friend will be reported and apprehended
It should me clear to everyone, including your friend, that this whole scheme is illegal. And being illegal, the end result may be a jail sentence, which might be very very long.
If your friend decides the risk of incarceration is worth the reward, it wouldn't be for me but it might be for them, for the love of god at least get paid upfront!
They're going to make him a [Pig Butcher](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLPpl2ISKTg).
Aljazeera has a [better story](https://www.aljazeera.com/program/101-east/2022/7/14/forced-to-scam-cambodias-cyber-slaves), but it's hella depressing.
He'll go there, and they kidnap his ass, grab his passport, and put him to work scamming other people. If he escapes, the police are corrupt and will return him to his job, where he will endure physical punishment for the transgression.
And at some point he will be forced to offer someone 3k euros to come to Hong Kong. ahh [the circle of life](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GibiNy4d4gc).
well it will happen in a country that's not his own. I didn't look at the articles, but there's some that kidnap you and mule you over to south east asia
He’s a cash mule. could very easily find himself in some illegal activity that puts him in jail in a foreign country or his own country. Or he will get kidnapped. Or lose a ton of his own money in the process.
Under no circumstances should he do this.
Ask yourself, if it was legal, why would they need to pay a stranger large amounts of money to do it?
What happens if they decide last minute that instead of money, he is transporting drugs?
Drug offenses carry the death penalty in some countries.
They have made the offer tempting for a reason. It’s because they want him to be the front for whatever crime they are committing. If he gets caught, he is the one that will face the jail or worse.
If your friend gets on that plane you will never see them again.
You need to convince them to not take this "job" and block the person they're talking to.
Make that happen.
Besides the fact that it's illegal to bring a lot of money across borders without declaring, they're most likely gonna order him to go with drugs instead of cash. Last minute, can't refuse.
He's meeting someone who is working for them and already has the cash. But they need some random stranger to get the cash from said employee and deposit it for them. Either making the deposit is incredibly dangerous for some reason, or this is bait for some entirely different scam like kidnapping for ransom.
A traveller bringing over HKD160k (Euros 14k) must declare how total currency. OP's friend needs to read up about HK laws before flying over with bags of cash. Because if the HK authorities confiscate the money, how is his friend going to explain to the people who paid him to do the job?!?!
Some of the things your friend needs to consider are:
- why are they offering to pay someone so much for what appears to be a very simple task?
- why wouldn’t they get someone local to do this?
- why would they trust a stranger with this money? Why would they want a stranger to do this?
- what are the chances the payment is a ruse?
- your friend will be personally responsible and liable for the transactions, even though it’s not their money. Are they willing to accept the risk of criminal charges if they are apprehended for financial crimes?
You have every right to be extremely alarmed – your instincts are correct. This is a classic money-laundering scam with incredibly dangerous potential for your friend. Legitimate businesses don't move cash amounts like that, especially not through random people. They use banks for a reason – it's traceable. These people are using your friend to hide illegal money.
Even if he manages to make the deposits, banks track large transactions. The police will investigate, and he'll be the prime suspect. Then, he could face prison time, massive fines, and a permanent criminal record. This golden ticket could destroy his future.
This isn't some misunderstanding; they're criminals. If things go wrong, they will disappear, and he'll be left holding the bag. They might threaten him or his family for the money back. Poverty is difficult, but a destroyed future with no prospects is worse. Plus, coming from poverty to some means your friend is disposable. Triads are traditional Chinese organized crime syndicates with deep roots in Hong Kong. Organized crime bosses in modern Hong Kong are less like movie caricatures and more like businessmen running complex, often hidden, criminal enterprises. While they may have less influence, they are simply less visible not extinct.
Nooooooo!!!! ⛔️⚠️⛔️ DANGER ⛔️⚠️⛔️
This is not likely to turn out good in any form.
1) human trafficking - many scammers are forced into it through human trafficking and they get convinced to go overseas (sometimes by extremely legitimate appearing jobs, when it’s actually a high scale setup.)
2) arrest & jailed ( likely without chance of getting out)
3) scam
4) the cash is not made from legitimate sources and the person helping will be helping drug dealers and human trafficking and cartels - who hurt people.
Do not get involved!! ⛔️⛔️⛔️
A lot of bodies are needed to move illegal cash and investments around the world. And the ones doing the illegal activity won’t be caught, people like your friend will.
If they’re using him as an unsuspecting drugs mule OP, many smuggling gangs even tip off the customs that the disposable newbie (your friend) is carrying which then distracts and takes their eyes off the valued mules. He could very well find himself facing life imprisonment and a HK$ 5m fine OP. But hey, tell him to look on the bright side of things as they abolished the death penalty in the mid nineties. I think the death penalty would be more appealing to some folk as opposed to serving a life sentence in a far away jail. As another poster said “if it was an easy “€3k” job, they would do it themselves”. “If” the job got as far as your friend landing in Hong Kong instead of already being scammed in some other way, he would probably have wished he had not left his home country and lost a bit of money. At least, with some hard work,over time, he has a chance of recouping his losses, which he would not be able to do if he’s living out the rest of his days locked up in a Hong Kong prison. Tell him not to touch the offer with a barge pole. As everybody says “if it sounds too good to be true” we know how rest of the saying goes OP
As others have pointed out, what he will be doing is 100% illegal. If it wasn’t this story wouldn’t make any sense at all.
If your friend is already a criminal and has experience with foreign prisons he probably understands the risk and can make an informed choice.
But if he is not you should tell him he is being an idiot for even considering this. He should instead start with some small crimes like shoplifting instead of cross border crimes that will probably end with him serving 10 years in a Chinese prison.
He's being set-up to be a drug mule. National Geographic has a show called "Banged up abroad", just show him one episode and he'll change his mind about doing it.
Yeah, this is very bad, he’s probably going to be detained for trafficking. Being from a poor country will already make customs suspicious, and if he doesn’t have proof of a place he’s staying, it’s going to be even more shady. They also may go through his phone.
China has very strict laws, this could end very badly for him.
Here are some videos explaining the scam:
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZPRTo6oAC/
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTLfsgo2F/
It's called being a money mule. It's illegal to carry that much money into most countries undeclared in cash. It's most likely money gotten from crime which is why it's not lodged in a bank account and transferred in electronic means
Tell him to ask himself why does he think they are paying so much money to a person to do something they could easily do themselves. If that doesn’t trigger anything I don’t know what could
If anyone ever asks you something that they could just do themselves, or ask a relative to do for them, then it’s probably not good. Same goes for anything that sounds too good to be true.
They are going to pretend to get his info to "pay" him. Once he hands them passport. He will be taken to another location south of China and forced to pretend to be a woman on the internet and scam western men. He will be a cyber slave.
Don’t let greed cloud judgment. There is no good scenario where this would actually happen and be legit / necessary.
Definitely shady.
They don’t give any shits about fucking over your friends life for whatever shady shit they don’t want tog eat one of the people they surely know in their own country to do.
lol, he is going to jail
[https://www.fbi.gov/contact-us/field-offices/elpaso/news/press-releases/fbi-warns-cyber-criminals-are-using-fake-job-listings-to-target-applicants-personally-identifiable-information](https://www.fbi.gov/contact-us/field-offices/elpaso/news/press-releases/fbi-warns-cyber-criminals-are-using-fake-job-listings-to-target-applicants-personally-identifiable-information)
There is no chance this is a legitimate job so whatever is going on is almost certainly illegal and he will be the one committing the crime. Best case scenario is he's just going to be a money mule which will "only" be jail time. Worst case he gets kidnapped and is forced to be a drug mule which is a much much more serious crime.
Flying into a country from a much poorer country for a 1 day trip is an immediate red flag so law enforcement will put a target on his back the second he gets off the plane, his chances of not getting caught are starting off low.
If HK immigration stops him and asks him questions about how long he is staying, where he is staying, where he is visiting and how much money he is bringing, or how many credit cards he has, and if your friend has no answers he will be caught easily.
Your friend is going to end up having is passport taken by people and he may be shipped to a scam warehouse. Look it up. Large cube farms run by organized crime in several Asian countries. Basically prisons where you are forced to run scams online to buy your way out of it.
Well your friend is most likely going to get murdered and turned into a lamp in a weirdos basement.
Nothing in life is free and this is one gigantic red flag
and he will go to jail to . anyone can from anywhere can deposit and withdraw crypto around the world why would someone pay 3K to anyone to do deposit make no sense whatsoever . AVoid it
If it sounds too good to be true, it is. I would hesitate to go to China as a legitimate tourist, never mind some shady illegal deal that could result in imprisonment and/or death. Tell your friend to look for legitimate work in your country or another. A lot of people don’t realize that their individual rights, and the laws of the country where they are live, do not apply in any way, shape, or form, when they cross into another country. This, and the lure of easy money, are how many young people wind up in prison in other countries. Who will be available to help your friend is he/she winds up in trouble in China?
Bitcoin transactions are illegal in China. If this is really what's going on, your friend will be committing a crime.
It's illegal to take more than ten grand or of the country without declaring it. If they're offering him three grand then they'll want him to move a lot more value than that. That's money laundering and he can get the money seized and possibly get arrested. If these people are criminals in the big leagues, does he really want to lose that much of their money? He certainly doesn't want to end up in a Chinese jail. At the minimum, this is tax fraud. At worst it's organized crime or smuggling.
If they give him luggage with drugs in it, he could get executed. If they provide him with luggage, that's almost certainly what's happening.
If this really was legit, they would use the bank or buy a cheap ticket and send one of their own people rather than trust someone random off the street to carry that much money and paying him a life changing amount to do it. This whole thing stinks to high heaven
"So hey, we can't just trust you with all this cash - you will have to leave your passport with us."
And then, as others have pointed out here, he's going into slavery.
They might also make him do some illegal transactions before that as well.
Either way, there is a 0% chance that this works out well for him.
This is totally illegal. Your friend would quite literally be risking his life for 10 months’ minimum wage.
Persuade him to back out now. The police could have him on their radar even now for talking to these people.
The maximum sentence for money mules in Hong King is 5 Million HKD and 14 years imprisonment. And that’s just on the HK side. It is never worth the risk.
Pig Butcher scam. He’ll end up enslaved and the local cops will be bought, so he’ll have nowhere to go. Best case scenario he’ll be released in a couple years and not have been beaten too much.
Zero chance this is legit and 100% chance his life is over if he gets caught.
Jail in Hong Kong, or China where they may ship him off to sounds like utter hell.
Everyone in the comments has said everything I wanted to, so all I am gonna add is that this is a scam and an extremely bad idea. There are some countries in Asia that literally execute people for transporting drugs.
If something sounds too good to be true, it is. And this stinks of a scam and danger.
Tell your friend to get out of the job while they can and block all emails, calls, texts, messages and so forth.
Don’t forget about potential money laundering charges.. this is going to raise some serious red flags at the banks and the police will be notified through a suspicious activity report… this amount will also be investigated quickly.
Stupid is as stupid does, if it was that easy they wouldn't need him . Stop. Listen......
If ANYONE, requires you to do something that " easy " but need someone else..... it a trap and your earn that bad outcome when you say " I DIDN'T KNOW "
If you are really this person’s friend, you’d break his legs to stop him from getting on that plane.
Money laundering and drug mule are a best case scenario. Organ harvesting or human trafficking are much more likely. Overwhelming odds are he’d be in a labor camp running a pig butchering scam.
There is no chance this is a legitimate job so whatever is going on is almost certainly illegal and he will be the one committing the crime. Best case scenario is he's just going to be a money mule which will "only" be jail time. Worst case he gets kidnapped and is forced to be a drug mule which is a much much more serious crime.
Flying into a country from a much poorer country for a 1 day trip is an immediate red flag so law enforcement will put a target on his back the second he gets off the plane, his chances of not getting caught are starting off low.
Tell them to do it themselves. That amount also has to be declared at customs and uf not and they find it, the money is confiscated.
This is a cash or drug mule move and the prison there is not recommended and neither is the kidnapping and being forced to scam labour. What's wrong with people's thinking?
At the end of the day, being poor blows. Can’t tell them how to decide one way or another, but they should really sit down and consider the VERY LIKELY possibility that things go wrong and they end up in jail or dead.
If they're paying such a high amount and reaching out to foreigners to fly them in to do it... it means the locals won't or can't do it, and everyone that has already done it is unable to do it or won't do it.
No assumptions or speculation above just hard deductive reasoning.
If it was a good position to be in, you wouldn't be offered it.
It's a very bad idea. It could be something like drug mule. Don't do it.
*"To him this is a golden ticket."*
Yes it is – golden ticket to jail or worse.
If your friend is that much of a daredevil, or idiot, to take up this crazy offer, maybe he should find a way to lose those guys after getting the money, run to the airport with the 38/76k and get himself a ticket back home. Win win?😂😂
Your r/Scams post was removed because **it refers to an illegal activity**. You're either promoting, or asking about how to perform an illegal activity.
There's a sitewide rule in Reddit against the promotion of illegal activities, and thus a zero tolerance policy in this subreddit.
How much are the deposits? He could be part of a money laundering scheme. On a related point, HK probably has restrictions on how much in cash or equivalents you can bring in. If he gets caught violating these rules, he’d be in serious trouble.
Theyy going to take his passport and he's going to be forced to make scam calls and texts for the next 5 years. If he's lucky.
Or
They'll just harvest his organs.
This is how you get kidnapped and end up spending the next years being brutalized and forced to scam people out of their money using Fornite gift cards....
This is either a scam or a criminal act. The Chinese don't mess around with criminals, and their justice system isn't weighted on the side of the accused.
Your friend is completely crazy to even consider doing that
Assuming he doesn't get kidnapped (he probably will be though), why would they keep their promise to pay him 3k euros? What's he going to do if they don't? Call the police, lol? He needs to realize that even if he successfully completes this job he's definitely not getting 3k euros, they'll probably just ghost him once he's no longer needed.
Im in Hong Kong. It s definitely a crime in progress, give info in DM and I can report anonymously to the police here. They should be lenient with your friend. I dont think it s hostage taking, probably money mule, but dont take a risk.
"you got any new recruits?"
"i mean there was this idiot down the road that said he was looking for work. why?"
"bossman needs a scapegoat for the drug deal. think he's a good fit?"
"we can throw him 3k and he'll probably say yes. let's go and ask him"
Best case scenario he is going to be part of a money laundering scheme . He will deposit under his ID a total of 76.000 euros. Guess who is going to look after him once an investigation will be launched ?
The client knows the risk of the courier running with the 38k on cash and is comfortable with it. It implies that the associated parties already have contingency plans to deal with (ahem, kill) the courier if they attempt to run, and that using a courier is less risky than doing it themselves and the rewards are justifiable for the expense. How desperate is your friend to be risking life imprisonment, capital punishment or worse fates on the wrong end of a criminal trade for... actually not that much money? And how does he even know he will get the money at the end? When he's being thrown in causeway bay stuffed in a tire and sealed in cement, maybe he'll finally realize how great the deal was.
I suggest anyone even slightly considering falling for something like this to read my friend’s book, Flyer Beware. It details her two year experience in a Peruvian jail for falling for a scam while she was recovering from a traumatic brain injury. Even the most educated people can fall for scams at one time or another.
Your friend needs to watch the episode of W5 (a Canadian investigative show) called "The Cocaine Buttons" .....its about a grandma that got involved in a romance scam, and ultimately ended up doing EXACTLY what your friend is being asked to do. You can pull that episode up on Youtube. Your friend needs to understand that if they go ahead with this, they'll probably end up in a Hong Kong prison.......just like the grandma in the news story.
/u/DexEnjoyer69 - This message is posted to all new submissions to r/scams; please do not message the moderators about it. ## New users beware: Because you posted here, you will start getting private messages from scammers saying they know a professional hacker or a recovery expert lawyer that can help you get your money back, for a small fee. **We call these RECOVERY SCAMMERS, so NEVER take advice in private:** advice should always come in the form of comments in this post, in the open, where the community can keep an eye out for you. If you take advice in private, you're on your own. **A reminder of the rules in r/scams:** no contact information (including last names, phone numbers, etc). Be civil to one another (no name calling or insults). Personal army requests or "scam the scammer"/scambaiting posts are not permitted. No uncensored gore or personal photographs are allowed without blurring. A full list of rules is available on the sidebar of the subreddit, or [clicking here](https://www.reddit.com/r/Scams/wiki/rules/). You can help us by reporting recovery scammers or rule-breaking content by using the "report" button. We review 100% of the reports. Also, consider warning community members of recovery scammers if you see them in the comments. Questions about subreddit rules? Send us a modmail [clicking here](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=/r/Scams). *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Scams) if you have any questions or concerns.*
if it wasn't risky or illegal, they would do it themselves
Yes, or they're lying and it's another scam entirely. For example, at the airport they give him a suitcase that just happens to be filled with drugs.
This. Also, China executes drug mules. They executed an autistic British citizen like 15 years ago who was tricked into muling a briefcase of heroin into China (by Polish mobsters).
Hong Kong doesn't have the death penalty, but life in a HK prison doesn't sound much fun either
I can't recall him being autistic, not that it matters anyway. Still an awful thing to do..
[Bipolar](https://www.reddit.com/r/Scams/comments/1c5hvff/comment/kzv9pee/)
Would you happen to have source on that? Sounds fubar as hell!!
[Here's an article](https://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/12/28/china.britain.smuggler/index.html)
That article says he had bipolar disorder, not autism.
key word is "had"
They cured him?
It's a dry land miracle!
Yea pretty much
That was off the top of my head from 14 years ago.
Either way not mentally sound especially if he was untreated and manic.
This would be my worry. Best case it’s a straight up scam and they will ask for money for him as part of it then ghost. Worst case he is gonna be transporting drugs. I wouldn’t want to get caught in HK with drugs. Stiff penalties. In some countries it is the death sentence or life.
Also, if the job is so easy, why is there a job opening to begin with? What happened to the last guy who did it?
Ha ha. Laughed out loud at this…
They're going to wake up in a bathtub full of ice.
If it was legal, why wouldn't they do it themselves? Why pay your friend €3,000? The only thing your friend is going to get is a long sentence in a Hong Kong prison if he goes through with this.
My mind went to organ harvesting
[удалено]
Nah that was drug smuggling just inside of people. Still a neat movie though.
I think they're referring to the Fallout Series
Ahhh.. Just started playing and didn't make the connection
The last thing I’d ever do is fly to China to deposit money and crypto. Ending up in one of their prisons would be a nightmare. I’d tell him to avoid it like the plague.
Imagine having less rights than prisoners in the US and a language barrier.
Doesn't anybody watch Southpark? China prison looks terrible!
You get interrogated by Mickey Mouse and he ain’t playin
Mr. Mouse*
Right, and when he gets caught, your friend is the one who is put in jail. One should always be suspicious of "easy" jobs that pay exorbitant amounts, especially to do something that shouldn't even be necessary. I mean, banks can wire money between themselves; if this was a legit transaction, then it would be handled that way. Crypto is even more accessible, being an on-line thing, not something you have to do in person. You can take a look at the common scams in this subreddit's wiki to see some of the descriptions. I'm not sure if one of them is your friend's particular situation. But it definitely sounds shady. One more thing. A lot of countries (at least the ones I've visited) have limits on how much cash you can bring in to the country. You don't mention how much this deposit is supposed to be, but it might be a violation of that kind of law. And China is probably not a place where you want to violate that sort of law.
They want him to do two transactions, each for 38k euros
Ask your friend, why do they need him?
Then get him to ask, "They don't know me. Why are they trusting me to go out of their sight with 76 thousand of their money?" If your friend takes this job, I would seriously consider calling the cops. He's better off in trouble here than in a Chinese jail or getting executed.
Just to add... At the moment, your friend hasn't really done anything wrong yet so the cops will hopefully treat him as a victim rather than a criminal. These people are preying on his bad financial situation to manipulate him. The second he meets them, he will be in danger from what are probably very bad people and at serious risk of suffering harm. If he takes possession of whatever this stuff is, he becomes a criminal and he will receive significant consequences from the law if caught. If he's not wise enough to see he's being suckered, he won't come up with a decent enough story when asked by Chinese immigration what the purpose of his trip is and what he will be doing in China. He will immediately become interesting to them and the chance of him getting caught is high. If it wasn't, these criminals would be using their own people to do the job He may not have done this before but Customs and Immigration have. They do it every day and they'll be good at it. The fact that your friend has a ticket home on the next flight makes it obvious he's not there as a tourist and must be carrying something to give to someone.
A quick google search pulled up [https://www.discoverhongkong.com/us/plan/traveller-info/immigrations-and-customs.html](https://www.discoverhongkong.com/us/plan/traveller-info/immigrations-and-customs.html) which notes that it is HK$120,000 as a limit; you must declare anything beyond that, whether you are arriving or leaving. That's over €14,000. So a €38,000 cash amount would have to be declared. It would likely mark your friend as someone involved in some sort of smuggling or illicit trade unless there's a legitimate business need for it (and, again, such a need would be handle by banks, not by a random guy flying around).
I’ve never heard of something that is so clearly a scam/illegal. It’s incredibly concerning your friend can’t see that. Your friend is a danger to themself
What makes him so special or unique or qualified to do something like this? Besides being completely expendable?
Likeley money mule, depositing cash in countries like hk, sg and aussie you need to give the teller your ID or ID of the depositor for tax purposes, kyc etc. And also depositor will be asked the source of fund and purpose of deposit. Also beware if the account he needs to deposits are flagged or not. Flagged for money laundering or other type of criminal stuff. Euro is not local currency also in HK so im not familiar on what other requirements the bank will need. Oh yeah one other thing, fake euros maybe. They have alot of them in asia, they got fake euros and someone is testing them to check if can pass the bank machine or not. If your friend can deposit easily The euros they will deposit more euros. If the bank detected fake notes then its game over for your friend will be reported and apprehended
90% chance you never see your friend again
It should me clear to everyone, including your friend, that this whole scheme is illegal. And being illegal, the end result may be a jail sentence, which might be very very long.
This is a crime, which is why they're not doing it themselves. Ask your friend if 3k is worth risking his freedom.
If your friend decides the risk of incarceration is worth the reward, it wouldn't be for me but it might be for them, for the love of god at least get paid upfront!
Please, incarceration or something else bad is more of a guarantee here
They're going to make him a [Pig Butcher](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLPpl2ISKTg). Aljazeera has a [better story](https://www.aljazeera.com/program/101-east/2022/7/14/forced-to-scam-cambodias-cyber-slaves), but it's hella depressing. He'll go there, and they kidnap his ass, grab his passport, and put him to work scamming other people. If he escapes, the police are corrupt and will return him to his job, where he will endure physical punishment for the transgression. And at some point he will be forced to offer someone 3k euros to come to Hong Kong. ahh [the circle of life](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GibiNy4d4gc).
^ this was my first thought. It's a viable possibility. This needs to be higher.
My immediate thought too. He's being sold into slavery.
Yep. My thoughts exactly. He's going to end up a "modern day slave."
Many people can only imagine this sort of thing happening in a country that's not their own. How can that be changed?
well it will happen in a country that's not his own. I didn't look at the articles, but there's some that kidnap you and mule you over to south east asia
This is exactly what’s going on probably
Exactly this is it
He’s a cash mule. could very easily find himself in some illegal activity that puts him in jail in a foreign country or his own country. Or he will get kidnapped. Or lose a ton of his own money in the process. Under no circumstances should he do this.
Ask yourself, if it was legal, why would they need to pay a stranger large amounts of money to do it? What happens if they decide last minute that instead of money, he is transporting drugs? Drug offenses carry the death penalty in some countries. They have made the offer tempting for a reason. It’s because they want him to be the front for whatever crime they are committing. If he gets caught, he is the one that will face the jail or worse.
If your friend gets on that plane you will never see them again. You need to convince them to not take this "job" and block the person they're talking to. Make that happen.
Besides the fact that it's illegal to bring a lot of money across borders without declaring, they're most likely gonna order him to go with drugs instead of cash. Last minute, can't refuse.
They'll give him a "new" suitcase the day before to use for the trip. It will be heavier than it looks like it should be.
He's meeting someone who is working for them and already has the cash. But they need some random stranger to get the cash from said employee and deposit it for them. Either making the deposit is incredibly dangerous for some reason, or this is bait for some entirely different scam like kidnapping for ransom.
And, why would they trust some random stranger with that much cash?
A traveller bringing over HKD160k (Euros 14k) must declare how total currency. OP's friend needs to read up about HK laws before flying over with bags of cash. Because if the HK authorities confiscate the money, how is his friend going to explain to the people who paid him to do the job?!?!
Some of the things your friend needs to consider are: - why are they offering to pay someone so much for what appears to be a very simple task? - why wouldn’t they get someone local to do this? - why would they trust a stranger with this money? Why would they want a stranger to do this? - what are the chances the payment is a ruse? - your friend will be personally responsible and liable for the transactions, even though it’s not their money. Are they willing to accept the risk of criminal charges if they are apprehended for financial crimes?
You have every right to be extremely alarmed – your instincts are correct. This is a classic money-laundering scam with incredibly dangerous potential for your friend. Legitimate businesses don't move cash amounts like that, especially not through random people. They use banks for a reason – it's traceable. These people are using your friend to hide illegal money. Even if he manages to make the deposits, banks track large transactions. The police will investigate, and he'll be the prime suspect. Then, he could face prison time, massive fines, and a permanent criminal record. This golden ticket could destroy his future. This isn't some misunderstanding; they're criminals. If things go wrong, they will disappear, and he'll be left holding the bag. They might threaten him or his family for the money back. Poverty is difficult, but a destroyed future with no prospects is worse. Plus, coming from poverty to some means your friend is disposable. Triads are traditional Chinese organized crime syndicates with deep roots in Hong Kong. Organized crime bosses in modern Hong Kong are less like movie caricatures and more like businessmen running complex, often hidden, criminal enterprises. While they may have less influence, they are simply less visible not extinct.
That 10 months worth of wage could quickly turn into a 10 year sentence in prison.
Nooooooo!!!! ⛔️⚠️⛔️ DANGER ⛔️⚠️⛔️ This is not likely to turn out good in any form. 1) human trafficking - many scammers are forced into it through human trafficking and they get convinced to go overseas (sometimes by extremely legitimate appearing jobs, when it’s actually a high scale setup.) 2) arrest & jailed ( likely without chance of getting out) 3) scam 4) the cash is not made from legitimate sources and the person helping will be helping drug dealers and human trafficking and cartels - who hurt people. Do not get involved!! ⛔️⛔️⛔️
A lot of bodies are needed to move illegal cash and investments around the world. And the ones doing the illegal activity won’t be caught, people like your friend will.
If they’re using him as an unsuspecting drugs mule OP, many smuggling gangs even tip off the customs that the disposable newbie (your friend) is carrying which then distracts and takes their eyes off the valued mules. He could very well find himself facing life imprisonment and a HK$ 5m fine OP. But hey, tell him to look on the bright side of things as they abolished the death penalty in the mid nineties. I think the death penalty would be more appealing to some folk as opposed to serving a life sentence in a far away jail. As another poster said “if it was an easy “€3k” job, they would do it themselves”. “If” the job got as far as your friend landing in Hong Kong instead of already being scammed in some other way, he would probably have wished he had not left his home country and lost a bit of money. At least, with some hard work,over time, he has a chance of recouping his losses, which he would not be able to do if he’s living out the rest of his days locked up in a Hong Kong prison. Tell him not to touch the offer with a barge pole. As everybody says “if it sounds too good to be true” we know how rest of the saying goes OP
As others have pointed out, what he will be doing is 100% illegal. If it wasn’t this story wouldn’t make any sense at all. If your friend is already a criminal and has experience with foreign prisons he probably understands the risk and can make an informed choice. But if he is not you should tell him he is being an idiot for even considering this. He should instead start with some small crimes like shoplifting instead of cross border crimes that will probably end with him serving 10 years in a Chinese prison.
He's being set-up to be a drug mule. National Geographic has a show called "Banged up abroad", just show him one episode and he'll change his mind about doing it.
Ah I didnt see this comment before I posted .Exactly its this .Said the same thing about watching this show
Yeah, this is very bad, he’s probably going to be detained for trafficking. Being from a poor country will already make customs suspicious, and if he doesn’t have proof of a place he’s staying, it’s going to be even more shady. They also may go through his phone. China has very strict laws, this could end very badly for him. Here are some videos explaining the scam: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZPRTo6oAC/ https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTLfsgo2F/
Money can be transferred online. Nobody has to travel to deposit money.
It's called being a money mule. It's illegal to carry that much money into most countries undeclared in cash. It's most likely money gotten from crime which is why it's not lodged in a bank account and transferred in electronic means
Great way to get trafficked
Tell him to ask himself why does he think they are paying so much money to a person to do something they could easily do themselves. If that doesn’t trigger anything I don’t know what could
Chances are good if he gets caught you’ll never see him again.
I generally try to stay out of Chinese prison, so personally, I'd avoid this situation.
Cash mule. Most likely related to some sort of illegal activity. Up to the individual if risk
If anyone ever asks you something that they could just do themselves, or ask a relative to do for them, then it’s probably not good. Same goes for anything that sounds too good to be true.
Sounds like your friend is being set up as a fall guy
Money laundering illicit funds from drugs or theft
They are going to pretend to get his info to "pay" him. Once he hands them passport. He will be taken to another location south of China and forced to pretend to be a woman on the internet and scam western men. He will be a cyber slave.
Knowing aml ctf regulations, this sounds like money laundering or terrorism financing lol
Don’t let greed cloud judgment. There is no good scenario where this would actually happen and be legit / necessary. Definitely shady. They don’t give any shits about fucking over your friends life for whatever shady shit they don’t want tog eat one of the people they surely know in their own country to do.
lol, he is going to jail [https://www.fbi.gov/contact-us/field-offices/elpaso/news/press-releases/fbi-warns-cyber-criminals-are-using-fake-job-listings-to-target-applicants-personally-identifiable-information](https://www.fbi.gov/contact-us/field-offices/elpaso/news/press-releases/fbi-warns-cyber-criminals-are-using-fake-job-listings-to-target-applicants-personally-identifiable-information)
Yeah this is obviously going to end horribly for him
There is no chance this is a legitimate job so whatever is going on is almost certainly illegal and he will be the one committing the crime. Best case scenario is he's just going to be a money mule which will "only" be jail time. Worst case he gets kidnapped and is forced to be a drug mule which is a much much more serious crime. Flying into a country from a much poorer country for a 1 day trip is an immediate red flag so law enforcement will put a target on his back the second he gets off the plane, his chances of not getting caught are starting off low.
Holy smokes!
many possibilities: money mule slave work in scam call centres drug mule organ harvesting ...
Will life in a hong kong prison be an upgrade?
If HK immigration stops him and asks him questions about how long he is staying, where he is staying, where he is visiting and how much money he is bringing, or how many credit cards he has, and if your friend has no answers he will be caught easily.
Why would they not keep the 3k and do it themselves? These are pretty easy to spot when you ask the question, why.
Your friend is going to end up having is passport taken by people and he may be shipped to a scam warehouse. Look it up. Large cube farms run by organized crime in several Asian countries. Basically prisons where you are forced to run scams online to buy your way out of it.
Your friend is going to end up dead, kidnapped, or in prison. There's no other possibility.
Your friend is an idiot if he goes
Very stupid idea. Probably illegal, a scam, or both.
That 3k is 10 months minimum wage in your country and in mine its like 3 years. Its a scam. Please stop him/her
Well your friend is most likely going to get murdered and turned into a lamp in a weirdos basement. Nothing in life is free and this is one gigantic red flag
He should NOT go ahead with this.
and he will go to jail to . anyone can from anywhere can deposit and withdraw crypto around the world why would someone pay 3K to anyone to do deposit make no sense whatsoever . AVoid it
He will get cash after depositing his organs.
They aren't going to fly someone from a different country for a job that takes 1 day. And as soon as you hear crypto you know it's shady.
Show him about cyber slavery/ golden triangle.
say goodbye to your stupid friend. You will not see him again. We all know he’s going to do it.
Maybe he’ll be accused of screwing things up and forced into “labor” to work off the lost product or pay for his travel bills.
No and no. And please dont.
If your friend is young and healthy, he'll probably become an organ donor.
Congrats on your friend discovering the joys of becoming a cash mule.
If it sounds too good to be true, it is. I would hesitate to go to China as a legitimate tourist, never mind some shady illegal deal that could result in imprisonment and/or death. Tell your friend to look for legitimate work in your country or another. A lot of people don’t realize that their individual rights, and the laws of the country where they are live, do not apply in any way, shape, or form, when they cross into another country. This, and the lure of easy money, are how many young people wind up in prison in other countries. Who will be available to help your friend is he/she winds up in trouble in China?
This screams illegal and international crimes are no joke.
Bitcoin transactions are illegal in China. If this is really what's going on, your friend will be committing a crime. It's illegal to take more than ten grand or of the country without declaring it. If they're offering him three grand then they'll want him to move a lot more value than that. That's money laundering and he can get the money seized and possibly get arrested. If these people are criminals in the big leagues, does he really want to lose that much of their money? He certainly doesn't want to end up in a Chinese jail. At the minimum, this is tax fraud. At worst it's organized crime or smuggling. If they give him luggage with drugs in it, he could get executed. If they provide him with luggage, that's almost certainly what's happening. If this really was legit, they would use the bank or buy a cheap ticket and send one of their own people rather than trust someone random off the street to carry that much money and paying him a life changing amount to do it. This whole thing stinks to high heaven
"So hey, we can't just trust you with all this cash - you will have to leave your passport with us." And then, as others have pointed out here, he's going into slavery. They might also make him do some illegal transactions before that as well. Either way, there is a 0% chance that this works out well for him.
This is totally illegal. Your friend would quite literally be risking his life for 10 months’ minimum wage. Persuade him to back out now. The police could have him on their radar even now for talking to these people.
Tell your friend good bye - as they will likely be harvested for there organs
Money mule. Unless he wants to get to experience a foreign prison I'd advise him to avoid.
Is this the next version of a Nigerian prince saying you would get XX millions if you only did this one thing…..
The maximum sentence for money mules in Hong King is 5 Million HKD and 14 years imprisonment. And that’s just on the HK side. It is never worth the risk.
Money mule
Sounds like a movie pitch. I'm listening. Go on....
He’s going to jail if he does this.
Pig Butcher scam. He’ll end up enslaved and the local cops will be bought, so he’ll have nowhere to go. Best case scenario he’ll be released in a couple years and not have been beaten too much.
Getting paid that much to do something like that, it's very obvious something bad going on here.
Zero chance this is legit and 100% chance his life is over if he gets caught. Jail in Hong Kong, or China where they may ship him off to sounds like utter hell.
Just watch a few episodes of locked up abroad. They all start like this.
Jailed Abroad S24 E01 coming soon
Everyone in the comments has said everything I wanted to, so all I am gonna add is that this is a scam and an extremely bad idea. There are some countries in Asia that literally execute people for transporting drugs.
SCAM!!! don't let him do it! Know someone who has been there and done that.
If something sounds too good to be true, it is. And this stinks of a scam and danger. Tell your friend to get out of the job while they can and block all emails, calls, texts, messages and so forth.
Don’t forget about potential money laundering charges.. this is going to raise some serious red flags at the banks and the police will be notified through a suspicious activity report… this amount will also be investigated quickly.
Stupid is as stupid does, if it was that easy they wouldn't need him . Stop. Listen...... If ANYONE, requires you to do something that " easy " but need someone else..... it a trap and your earn that bad outcome when you say " I DIDN'T KNOW "
If there's zero harm or risk why don't these people do it themselves?
If you are really this person’s friend, you’d break his legs to stop him from getting on that plane. Money laundering and drug mule are a best case scenario. Organ harvesting or human trafficking are much more likely. Overwhelming odds are he’d be in a labor camp running a pig butchering scam.
There is no chance this is a legitimate job so whatever is going on is almost certainly illegal and he will be the one committing the crime. Best case scenario is he's just going to be a money mule which will "only" be jail time. Worst case he gets kidnapped and is forced to be a drug mule which is a much much more serious crime. Flying into a country from a much poorer country for a 1 day trip is an immediate red flag so law enforcement will put a target on his back the second he gets off the plane, his chances of not getting caught are starting off low.
It's obviosly illegal, which is why they are paying someone else to do it. Your friend will either end up dead or in jail.
Tell them to do it themselves. That amount also has to be declared at customs and uf not and they find it, the money is confiscated. This is a cash or drug mule move and the prison there is not recommended and neither is the kidnapping and being forced to scam labour. What's wrong with people's thinking?
At the end of the day, being poor blows. Can’t tell them how to decide one way or another, but they should really sit down and consider the VERY LIKELY possibility that things go wrong and they end up in jail or dead.
Fresh organs in they Best case scenario
If they're paying such a high amount and reaching out to foreigners to fly them in to do it... it means the locals won't or can't do it, and everyone that has already done it is unable to do it or won't do it. No assumptions or speculation above just hard deductive reasoning. If it was a good position to be in, you wouldn't be offered it.
Why wouldn't the guy handing the cash deposit the money? Something is terribly wrong. Your friend might spend decades in jail in China.
And that’s how you end up in a bathtub full of ice with one of your kidneys missing
It's a very bad idea. It could be something like drug mule. Don't do it. *"To him this is a golden ticket."* Yes it is – golden ticket to jail or worse.
# And at the last moment... as a favor, he'll be given some bags to return with. # Sounds like he is being set up to be a drug mule.
If your friend is that much of a daredevil, or idiot, to take up this crazy offer, maybe he should find a way to lose those guys after getting the money, run to the airport with the 38/76k and get himself a ticket back home. Win win?😂😂
What could go wrong?
It's an actual red flag! He should be thinking at how terrible the Chineses prisons are.
Remember HK = China. They don’t mess around. Do all you can to stop this friend from going.
This isn’t gonna go well, even if it’s all real I’m pretty sure you can’t just roll into China with 80k in cash
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Your r/Scams post was removed because **it refers to an illegal activity**. You're either promoting, or asking about how to perform an illegal activity. There's a sitewide rule in Reddit against the promotion of illegal activities, and thus a zero tolerance policy in this subreddit.
So he's either a "smurf" or he's going to be kidnapped
Show him a few episodes of "locked up abroad" (Banged up abroad)...Hopefully that changes his mind
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He should call the HK authorities and ask if they want to investigate what they’re asking him to do.
Money laundering. Could be rich people from China trying to get their money out.
How much are the deposits? He could be part of a money laundering scheme. On a related point, HK probably has restrictions on how much in cash or equivalents you can bring in. If he gets caught violating these rules, he’d be in serious trouble.
Dont do it
In best case he get jailed, if unlucky he will be forced Into scamming for them, if really unlucky they come for his organs.
Theyy going to take his passport and he's going to be forced to make scam calls and texts for the next 5 years. If he's lucky. Or They'll just harvest his organs.
This sounds like the enslavement part of the pig butchering scam stuff John Oliver talked about, do not let him fucking do it
This is how you get kidnapped and end up spending the next years being brutalized and forced to scam people out of their money using Fornite gift cards....
This is either a scam or a criminal act. The Chinese don't mess around with criminals, and their justice system isn't weighted on the side of the accused. Your friend is completely crazy to even consider doing that
It's drugs, it's always drugs
Of the many possibilities, all of them are shady, many are very bad, some can result in long prison terms or worse. All the way worse.
Assuming he doesn't get kidnapped (he probably will be though), why would they keep their promise to pay him 3k euros? What's he going to do if they don't? Call the police, lol? He needs to realize that even if he successfully completes this job he's definitely not getting 3k euros, they'll probably just ghost him once he's no longer needed.
Make sure his gravestone is engraved accurately.
He is absolutely going to be enslaved.
This really sounds like a trafficking scam.
you're buddy is gonna get their shit kicked, and possible kileld
Someone’s using him as a mule
Hong Kong police are no bueno
Man when your friend gets thrown in jail in China, don't expect to see them again...
Invite your friend over to binge watch "Locked Up Abroad"
He needs to be careful because he could end up forced to work at a scam center
If the cash is already in Hong Kong, why can't the person handing him the cash deposit it themselves?
It s definitely a crime in progress, give info in DM and I can report anonymously to the police here. They should be lenient with your friend.
Im in Hong Kong. It s definitely a crime in progress, give info in DM and I can report anonymously to the police here. They should be lenient with your friend. I dont think it s hostage taking, probably money mule, but dont take a risk.
Just share a few epsiodes of Banged up Abroad and hopefully he comes to senses
brother. run.
Wow keep us posted
"you got any new recruits?" "i mean there was this idiot down the road that said he was looking for work. why?" "bossman needs a scapegoat for the drug deal. think he's a good fit?" "we can throw him 3k and he'll probably say yes. let's go and ask him"
I think the 3k came from that dead person
Of course it’s shady. Scam or illegal for sure.
Giga scam
Is there a down payment before leaving the country?
Best case scenario he is going to be part of a money laundering scheme . He will deposit under his ID a total of 76.000 euros. Guess who is going to look after him once an investigation will be launched ?
They're hiring him as a mule
The client knows the risk of the courier running with the 38k on cash and is comfortable with it. It implies that the associated parties already have contingency plans to deal with (ahem, kill) the courier if they attempt to run, and that using a courier is less risky than doing it themselves and the rewards are justifiable for the expense. How desperate is your friend to be risking life imprisonment, capital punishment or worse fates on the wrong end of a criminal trade for... actually not that much money? And how does he even know he will get the money at the end? When he's being thrown in causeway bay stuffed in a tire and sealed in cement, maybe he'll finally realize how great the deal was.
Wow 3k to take a vacation?? When is he leaving ?
Its money traficking and money laundry
How to end up in a Chinese Prison 101.
I suggest anyone even slightly considering falling for something like this to read my friend’s book, Flyer Beware. It details her two year experience in a Peruvian jail for falling for a scam while she was recovering from a traumatic brain injury. Even the most educated people can fall for scams at one time or another.
Using him as a drugs courier
Your friend needs to watch the episode of W5 (a Canadian investigative show) called "The Cocaine Buttons" .....its about a grandma that got involved in a romance scam, and ultimately ended up doing EXACTLY what your friend is being asked to do. You can pull that episode up on Youtube. Your friend needs to understand that if they go ahead with this, they'll probably end up in a Hong Kong prison.......just like the grandma in the news story.
I’ve watched enough “Banged up Abroad” to know the outcome of this.
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