Chinese scammers used Isle of Man for ‘pig-butchering’ con

Conservative estimates put the global annual revenues of the “pig-butchering” industry at more than $60bn (£46.5bn).

“This is the first such case we’ve seen of one of these [pig-butchering] scam operations setting up in a Western country,” says Masood Karimipour, a UN expert on organised crime – who normally focuses on South East Asia.

Trying to stop the scams is like a “game of whack-a-mole”, he says, and it is a battle that “organised crime is currently winning” as criminals engage in what he calls “jurisdiction shopping” where they perceive there to be legal loopholes and little oversight.

Any ambitions the group of companies may have had on the Isle of Man – legitimate or otherwise – appear to have come to an end.

In April, police raided the former bank offices. They also targeted an address next to the island’s Courts of Justice building – using a ladder to enter through a first-floor window in the early hours of the morning.

In a statement released shortly afterwards, police said the raids had been in connection with a wider fraud and money laundering investigation in relation to King Gaming Ltd IOM. Seven people had been arrested and released on bail, they added.

Since then, a further three people are known to have been arrested.

Receivers were appointed earlier this month for companies in the group – including MIC and King Gaming Ltd IOM – at the request of the Isle of Man’s attorney general.

The island’s gambling regulator has stripped MIC’s gambling affiliate companies of their licences.

The parkland campus site was cleared of trees and signage went up – but the redevelopment is now on hold indefinitely.

The BBC has made repeated attempts, via several methods of communication, to contact the companies involved – as well as Bill Morgan/Liang Langfei and company directors – but has received no replies.

We have also attempted to contact the Seaview Hotel, but have received no response, though there is no suggestion that anyone there was aware of any illegal activities taking place on the premises.