How a fentanyl smuggling ring defrauded crypto investors in Japan

Chinese Fentanyl Network Linked to Crypto Fraud Token in Japan

Drug trafficking networks are increasingly linked to cryptocurrency fraud, even as a secondary activity in addition to their main illegal activity.

Local reports to show which also involved a criminal group that allegedly exported fentanyl precursors from China to America cryptocurrency fraud in Japan involving multiple victims.

According to a Nikkei investigation, the group issued a fraudulent token called zksync.jp, using the prestige of a Japanese internet domain and the domain’s similarity to an existing payment system as a tip to get unsuspecting users to invest in its platform.

The group used a Japanese company called Firsky, which was linked to Chinese chemical maker Hubei Amarvel Biotech, two of whose executives were convicted in the US last year of close ties to Chinese drug lords.

Losses reported by victims run into hundreds of millions of yen or millions of dollars.

The activity could be used launder money proceeds from fentanyl-related sales, as Amarvel, which was Firsky’s parent company, often conducted cryptocurrency transfers with Chinese financial fraud groups.

More than 120 such transfers were discovered, linking the organization to the Wuhan Yuangcheng group, which was led by appointed by the US State Department as “one of the most prolific suppliers of anabolic steroids in the world” who also exported fentanyl precursors to the US. The department is offering a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to his capture.

Japan to serve According to David King, special agent in charge of the DEA’s Asia-Pacific division, as a transit area for drug-trafficking organizations that enjoy lax controls on commercial shipments to America compared to China.