Scam Hilarity: How Gemcoin Scammer "Interprets" the American Justice System (HINT: It's VERY hilarious)

In the interest of all Gemcoin sheeple or perp, Chinese or otherwise, this post will be bilingual.

爲了大家的利益，珍寶幣是真是賤，讀者在中國或外國，以下中英雙文對比．

Recently there were a post on Sina blog (PDF linked) that claimed "there was no FBI raid" at USFIA and "SEC was just doing routine inspection". I took a look. It's hilarious. This clearly written by someone with "motivated reasoning".

最近有在新浪博客的一篇文章 (PDF) 聲稱美國富豪USFIA “沒有被FBI調查”和“美國證券交易委員會只是做例行檢查”。我親自看一看。它真的好笑。這顯然是“有動機推理”的人寫的。

Due to size constraints, I'll just explain the important parts. I don't quote out of context.

由於尺寸的限制，我選重要部份解釋。我不斷章取義。

What he wrote will be in blue.

他寫的用藍色

First, the title:

第一，文章標題

＂受联合国70周年大会邀请AFG公司副总裁等8人参加了联合国成立70周年大会＂

UN 70th anniversary celebration invited AFG VP et al 8 people to attend

Anyone can take a photo in front of the UN building. There are even shops inside the UN building. These photos of Leonard S. Johnson and two unidentified individuals can only prove they were in New York recently.　It has no other value.

任何人都可以在聯合國大廈前拍照。聯合國大樓內甚至有商店。照片只可以證明Leonard S. Johnson 和兩個身份不明的人最近去過紐約。沒有其他價值．

（FBI的战士们英姿飒爽哦，这张图片被媒体刊登在报端网络，渲染AFG公司被查封。可是，去过美国AFG公司的人一眼就能看出，这显然不是美国AFG公司背景的照片，媒体用好莱坞拍电影常用的移花接木、蒙太奇手法进行创作，实在让我们见识了美国的言论自由）

Translated; FBI Warriors, so fierce, so cool! This photo was published by media, claiming AFG was closed. However, those that went to AFG can see that this is not at AFG. Media use Hollywood fast cut to create false impressions, such as freedom of press in America. 

This photo is of FBI agents assisting in the Boston Marathon bombing in May 2013, when they searched Norfolk St. in Cambridge area of Great Boston.  The actual title of the photo is fbi-norfolk-street-cambridge.jpg  I have seen no American media use this photo with the Gemcoin story. If there is, please point me at the article. Otherwise, I must conclude that the blogger was the one who falsely inserted a photo, exactly what he's accusing "American media" of doing.

這張照片是聯邦調查局探員協助2013年5月波士頓馬拉松爆炸案，他們在搜查諾福克(Norfolk) 街在大波士頓的劍橋(Cambridge)地區。照片的實際名稱是FBI-norfolk-street-cambridge.jpg 我沒有看到任何美國媒體使用這張照片在珍寶幣故事上。如果有請指點我文章在哪。不然我必須定論這位珍寶幣博客才是插入不相干照片捏做新聞用來反指責“美國媒體”捏做新聞。（惡人先告狀）

（这张图片被媒体刊登在报端网络，渲染AFG公司被查封，但这显然不是美国AFG公司背景的照片，媒体用好莱坞拍电影常用的移花接木、蒙太奇手法进行创作，实在让我们见识了美国的言论自由。无怪乎刘因全之流可以肆无忌惮的拼接各种图片在媒体攻击AFG公司。美国报纸竟然和大陆文革中的大字报十分相似可以随便造谣惑众）

Translation: This photo was published by the media claiming AFG was closed by law. This is clearly not AFG in the background. Media use Hollywood special effects creatively and we have witnessed American freedom of press. How dare "Michael Liu" and his ilk publish all sort of photos to attack AFG. American newspapers are much like the hated paper in the Culture Revolution to spread rumors and lies. 

Those of you who can use Google image search will quickly realize this is a photo of the deputies in Lee County Florida. Again, I have not seen this photo in relation with Gemcoin, and again, I have to conclude that this Gemcoin blogger is the one who inserted irrelevant photos to accuse "american Media" of making up news.

那些會用谷歌圖片搜索的會發現這是佛羅里達州李縣(Lee County) 警長部 (Sheriff's Department) 的照片。同樣，我沒有看過此照片與珍寶幣報導有關，再次我必須做結論，這位珍寶幣博客才是插入了不相干照片捏做新聞用來反指責“美國媒體”捏做新聞。（惡人先告狀）

Here comes the hilarious part!

現在才是滑稽的料到了！

USFIA Update: "bank accounts show apparently NO revenue" (since 2013), and more

Official SEC press release: SEC Halts $32 Million Scheme That Promised Riches From Amber Mining



LATimes is a day late in reporting the Fed raid and shutdown of USFIA/Gemcoin, but apparently they actually read the SEC filing against USFIA, and they got a few extra details than anyone else thus far.

Here's the relevant parts:

USFIA has raised about $32 million from investors since 2013, according to the complaint. Nearly $19 million of that came from foreign investors, with $5.7 million coming from checks mostly issued by domestic investors, it said. 

The company’s bank accounts show no apparent revenue over that period, the complaint said. Instead, recorded transactions show large withdrawals to purchase luxury automobiles, entertainment and travel, as well as several transactions with various companies controlled by Chen.

and earlier in the article, Steve Chen apparently knew the gig's up, because...

Earlier this month, according to the filing, Chen attempted to wire $7.5 million out of USFIA’s account at Bank of America to a Chinese bank after he was interviewed by the Arcadia Police Department about a separate case involving alleged death threats against disgruntled Gemcoin investors. 

And it seems the politicians have nothing else to say.

USFIA Raided by SEC, FBI, etc. on 29-SEP-2015, assets frozen, company seized

Multiple news sources, including onsite witnesses, have reported that FBI, SEC, and several other agencies have raided USFIA on 9/29/2015 and froze its assets, and appointed a receiver to take over.

San Gabriel Valley News

SGVT: U.S. Government seizes Arcadia company's assets in GemCoin fraud case (29-SEP-2015)

USFIA Update Continued

Previously, we have covered how Amkey exited China after series of scandals (product problems, repeated changes of comp plan, sudden reversal of "opening stores" plan)  and never received the direct sales license it needed to operate in China, leaving thousands of distributors stranded and disillusioned.

What was surprising though is Amkey continued to operate outside of China, and attracted a following in Singapore and nearby countries.

Amkey and AllianceNGN 

Despite Amkey quietly withdrawing from China, it apparently enjoyed several years of continued growth, or at least fast recruitment, in places such as Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, and places that speaks Chinese, mainly by adding something called "NGNTalk", an IP talk product for long distance calling without the long distance fees.

NGN Talk's parent company, Alliance NGN, has a very intriguing Chinese name 美国联邦环球通which literally translates to US Federal Global Talk. Really official sounding, isn't it?

Various Chinese fan websites claimed that "Alliance NGN" has received FCC and EC certification. Searching FCC website shows no such certification.

The NGNTalk fan sites (in Chinese, example here, and here), and blogs littered all over the place about NGNTalk hinted at the level of recruiting. The deeper the tree, the higher the share (up to 20% if you go beyond level 8) as well as direct reward for recruiting per head, and so on.

If you look at the main menu of the alliancengn.com, it was actively soliciting investments. Why else would it have "Investor Guide" on its website as a main menu item?

Alliance NGN website, courtesy of web designer MartinMa
Note the section above: Investor information

This was confirmed when one digs into Alliance NGN's innards, where you discover that you can sign up and "invest" and even trade and receive "guidance".

Alliance NGN backoffice screenshot courtesy of MartinMa
Apparently one can invest money into "brokerage accounts" at Alliance NGN, which
was supposed to be a "telecom" company... Hmmmm.... 

Scam Tactics: Two-Face, revisited

Previously MLMSkeptic has covered "two-face", i.e. present two separate distinctive personalities to different audiences, as an Herbalife tactic.  Tell government and Wall Street 72% of participants do NOT want income, while holding a convention cheering on those who did profit and entice those who haven't joined with prospects of income.

But there is an even simpler version of two-face... present someone NOT as who they are, by simply dressing them up as something else.

And there's an update later about how Gemcoin / USFIA is being condemned in Vietnam... but first...

Those of you who keep up with the USFIA / Gemcoin developments should recognize this guy (photo from May 29th 2015 USFIA event):

Live ammo shooting coach Security Guard Chang (Zhang, actually) Right 5, photo with fans

With a bit of help from the newspaper ChineseDailyUSA (owned by Sho Tay of Arcadia, BTW) we've determined the guard's surname is Zhang (yes, I misspelled it in the translation).

And with a different photo, where the guard is now... "international jewelry appraiser", was identified as John Zhang.

Life412.com / Professional Gem Appraiser John Zhang (Right 2), Company VP Leonard S. Johnson (Right 3)
international market president Alicia Gesier (Right 4)  and Toronto International Market President eric Wu (Right 7)

If you're wondering why did the translation differ... I'm just going with original material, man.

But recently I came across a different coverage of the same Toronto event...

torcn.com / USFIA VP Leonard S. Johnson announcing USFIA Currency Fund Gemcoin's formal release and introducing
Alliance Financial Group (AFG) background and its affiliate USFIA Currency Fund
the guy on the right is, according to placard: John Zhang, international jewelry appraiser

So we have his full name, "John Zhang", and a search at Bureau of Security and Investigative Services, who licenses security guards and investigators, and you get "ZHANG JOHN BAO PING" of West Covina, CA.

The logical conclusion is the "jewelry appraiser" and "security guard" are the same person: the security guard was dressed up as "jewelry appraiser" for the Toronto event, and possibly for the other events in various Chinatowns as well.

That is two-face, at its most basic: present one face, the guard face, to the locals, then at where people don't know you, you can be other people, like "appraiser".

And the Toronto event and its coverage belies the recent "denial" of USFIA, where they claimed they don't even operate Gemcoin.

Scam Tactics: Using Cultural Preconceptions and Stereotypes for Affinity Scam

As the Gemcoin scam reached national stage, a video surfaced recently of Steve Chen and company throwing some sort of USFIA Club party at a McMansion owned by one of his real estate companies (AHome) ostensibly as some sort of reward for "top performing" USFIA participants.

During the event, Steve Chen was wearing a light blue polo with some sort of a badge on left breast, a photo badge clipped on the right breast, and was wearing a gunbelt with holster (and gun), with some sort of shield/badge on the belt in public display. The caption identified him as chairman, USFIA club.  (lit: US Royal Club)

Vidcap from video, red caption by Oz, BehindMLM.com
white caption says: USFIA Club Chairman

A later picture shows the gun and the rest, belt shield, shoulder patch, and photo ID badge and its close-up, where it clearly says: GREAT WALL, photo, badge, name, number, date, and "Public Safety".

Photo of Steve Chen cutting ribbon of his own place, close up of badge
brown and green markup by Oz, behindmlm.com,
Steve Chen is obviously dressed as security guard, ID'ed so by badge

Search of LA Area for "Great Wall" yielded a company called Great Wall Security Training Center, in San Gabriel, CA, not far from Arcadia.

Great Wall Security Training Center banner from their own website

Where, as you can guess, they train security guards, including armed guards, gun permits, pepper spray permits, billy club permits, body guard permit, concealed carry permit, and other related stuff.

Why did a chairman demote himself to security guard just to carry a gun around? On a grand-opening ceremony of his own club? For that, you have to understand Chinese culture.

USFIA Update: What was USFIA doing before Gemcoin? Exactly the same thing... selling promises of amber

Previously, we have established that the Arcadia based USFIA is the SAME "American Mining" scam that plagued China in 2014, and was destroyed in multiple raids in China as of June 2014. Its head in China, Ho Peng, was arrested in Hunan. The initial reporting agency, Changde police, even went to Thailand to arrest two that escaped there in November 2014.

USFIA had since published disclaimer that they never endorsed the company name being used for illegal purposes and basically disowned Ho Peng. 

But let us examine... Was USFIA doing anything different then vs. now? What was USFIA doing before 2015?

Here's the earliest mention of USFIA 美洲矿业... in California.

ChineseinLa.com classified ad in Chinese: American Mining needs gem commerce reps, dated 06-SEP-2013
They need reps to join US and Chinese markets, no requirements other than speak clearly and be nice

Note that they were looking for 加盟商 / Franchisee (30 of these), and 業務代表 / business rep.

Selling what? Gemstones? Or protoshares of whatever USFIA offers? Interesting, as we have no record of this.

What we *do* know is by March 2014, reps have indeed reached China, and is attracting official attention, because they do *not* have a direct sales license in China. So the reps all lied, claiming "it's coming soon". They attracted enough attention in Liaoning that local newspaper wrote an article on them, leading them to clear out overnight.

And this is their comp plan:

• Invest $1000, $2000, $5000, $10000, or $20000, get "merchandise" and "business center", plus $100 yearly "maintenance fee". 
• Get referral bonus (8% to 15% depending on how big the package your referral bought) 
• Get Leadership bonus (get referral bonus of your upline and downlines down 3 generations)
• Get Passive Monthly bonus (refer 1, get 1.75 shares, refer 2 get 2 shares)
• Management monthly bonus (if you got 2 downlines who brought in 300K each (10000 USD = 1 point, so 30 pts) you get 20000 that month, and it goes up from there. 
• Autoship bonus -- get a share of downline's purchases, if they maintain minimum of $100 per month, going down 12 generations
• Travel bonus and Car bonus

Let's keep this in mind while we check into a bit of history. 

First, let us examine the an old Chinese news on sina.com.cn, reposting news from Hunan Daily:

hunan.sina.com news of 12-NOV-2014, reporting arrest by Changde police
in Thailand regarding the USFIA "American Mining" scam

The part I highlighted in blue is:

据常德市公安局透露，2013年10月，黑龙江人陆巍加入陈力、所罗门杨等人在美国洛杉矶设立的传销组织“美洲矿业”，并成为其在中国地区的传销组织领导人之一。“美洲矿业”在北京、新疆、湖南等地以投资琥珀期权、原始股为名，大肆招募会员。他们将其所销售的劣质琥珀冒充多米尼加蓝珀欺骗会员，还多次以“美洲矿业”之名，在中国举办传销宣传聚会。

Which translates to:

According to Changde Ministry of Public Security, Mr. Lu Wei (from Heilongjiang) joined in October 2013 the pyramid sales organization "American Mining" (USFIA) established in US Los Angeles by Chen Li and Solomon Yang, and became one of pyramid sales leaders in the China region. "American Ming" (USFIA) recruited heavily in Beijing, Xinjiang, and Hunan using the promise of profit from investments in amber options as well as protostocks. They used bad quality amber to pass for Dominican blue amber and defrauded the members, and several times used "American Mining" (USFIA) name to hold pyramid sales promotion and recruitment meetings in China. 

Li Chen (i.e. Chen Li 陳力）is Steve Chen, head of USFIA, UCCA, AFG, and so on and so forth. 

Thus, there is absolutely NO DOUBT this is the same organization, same head, same company. Arcadia is a suburb of Los Angeles. In fact, some Spanish speakers are known to have mistaken John Wuo, then mayor of Arcadia, as "mayor of Los Angeles". Tsk tsk tsk, can't they even check Wikipedia?

USFIA posted an announcement dated June 2014 that Ho Peng was a rogue operator and the company disclaimed any and all relations with him. Then in late 2014 they launched Gemcoin, allegedly "backed by amber". 

Frankly, this already smells like "same wine, new bottle", but let's make absolutely sure... what was AFG / USFIA / WHATEVER doing BEFORE the crackdown in China? 

Here is an video found on Tudou (Chinese Youtube), believed to have been uploaded by a Spanish affiliate of USFIA back around February or March 2014, of their visit to AFG/USFIA HQ in Arcadia California. And they were speaking Spanish, not Chinese. As Chinese New Years decorations are still in display this can't be much later than March, and it was showing AFG, so this is before the introduction of Gemcoin. The video was then reuploaded to China's Tudou by a USFIA affiliate in China who added an overlay for his own website (no longer in service).

AFG / USFIA lobby, circa approx. March 2014. Note this is pre Gemcoin, and around Chinese New Years

And just for comparison, this is USFIA lobby now:

Seems they replaced the back sign to say AFG / Gemcoin, but kept some of those Chinese lanterns in the back. But there's no doubt it's the same desk, same lobby.

USFIA Update: Denial in Spain (and fun Spanish Vocabulary)

As previously mentioned, Spain Official Agency CNMV (La Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores trans: National Commission on Markets and Values/Investments) issued a warning against USFIA (i.e. AFG / Gemcoin ) back on May 18th.

In Spain, such illegal unregistered investments, basically HYIP, are known as chiringuito financiero or "financial snack bars".  Chiringuito is an open air snack bar often found on Spanish beaches serving snacks and drinks where you order from a counter and find your own seats. Some are even mobile on a tricycle. Thus, a chringuito financiero is a ramshackle unregistered investment, often without even a physical presence, and only exists via phone calls, email, and websites.  And USFIA (AFG / Gemcoin) was identified as a chringuito financiero.

Normally that's hardly noticeable, as the commission issues dozens of warnings every year. However, one of the comments was quite interesting, on a newspaper called "ValenciaPlaza".

Translation: Israel G. Gomez wrote That is not the website of USFIA.  I see they have contrasted the news and have little idea of ​​what they say, deplorable!

So what website was CNMV talking about? "Usfiamlm.com"

FWIW, usfiamlm.com is now a parked Godaddy domain.  Well, if it wasn't guilty, why is it parked so early? It's not as if Guardia (Spanish Police) raided it, right?

USFIA Update: Was in China earlier than previous reported, but definitely originated in the US

Searching for signs of USFIA, known in China as  美洲矿业 (American Continental Mining Industries, or just 'American Mining' for now), yielded a couple more links.

The earliest mention of American Mining was not in China, but in the US. A poster "Harryyu" posted a wanted ad in Southern California about "seeking USFIA sales rep for gemstone mining" dated 06-SEP-2013.

The earliest mention in China was a forum post in February 9th, 2014, where Mr. Ho Peng 候鵬 (surname is "Ho") made a big presentation in Qingdao, Shangdong province, China. You are welcome to Google translate the link, but I'll give you the TL;DR version:  Ho held a big meeting in the local 5-star hotel called Le Meridien  ( 青岛万达艾美酒店)  where Mr. Ho presented to a packed house full of MLMers from all over China for two hours. Ho claimed he had been in various MLM things for two years, and made over 20 million RMB and this American Mining will be the biggest next thing, and he had already made millions in this one, and he guarantees this is a sure win. Ho kept talking about his "aunt" 姨媽 from Guizhou 貴州, who's a local fortune teller and told him he will make tens of millions. Everybody can believe this fortune.

Alleged insider claimed that Ho is the local Judas Goat and may be part owner. He was shifting money out of the country and already got a divorce to emigrate. He had to make "one last job" before disappearing from China. Another accused Ho Peng of swindling people using his aunt's name.

Ho Peng, in Macao 22-APR-2014, promoting USFIA

I won't bother translating the comp package, except to explain that if you buy in at packages of 2K, 5K, 10K, or 30K (RMB of course), you get either protostock, or actual amber, and you can trade the protostock with their platform.

Other news sources claimed that Ho Peng was doing the same schtick all over China, and claimed to be a standing member of UCCA. USFIA name was mentioned prominently. Here is Ho Peng doing his schtick in Macao in April 22, 2014. You can see USFIA and 美洲矿业 in the background. You can view the entire video here. Chrome users: Use incognito mode to bypass the "missing plugins" error.

Note that the video title is 美洲矿业中美政治协商促进会—侯鹏 which translates to "American Mining UCCA -- Ho Peng"

In a different copy of the video, Ho Peng got a different title: 美洲矿业中美政治协商促进会常务委员—侯鹏 which translated to "American Mining UCCA standing member -- Ho Peng"

And he apparently got an ID card from UCCA shown at the same event, vidcapped from a different video.

Back in the US, also on the ChineseInLA website, a user by the name of "Amber Dream" posted an ad copy under "China-US Commerce" topic on 20-FEB-2014.

Another forum post in China was made on March 8th, 2014 where similar allegations was mentioned and the meeting in Qingdao was again referenced, but this time with a promise that Ho will do a presentation in Beijing. It also mentioned that his biggest downline is a Mr. Wang  王軍 Wang Jun who also made millions.

The fortunes started to turn for USFIA in China around March 2014, as they are starting to attract the attention of the authorities all over China.

Bad Argument: The Evil Twin Did it

When confronted with the news that their pet scheme may be a scam, victims of a scam react in various ways to deal with their cognitive dissonance, when two sets of facts collide as they can't both be true.

Some recoil in horror, realize they've been scammed, and quickly attempt to withdraw their money (which are usually stonewalled, leading to further desperation.)

Some are doubtful but vowed to stop taking their upline's word and do some honest research on their own

Some recoil and hide, denying that any "negativity" exists, and you should shut up because they don't want to hear about how they are wrong.

Some react with indignation and attempt to defend their scheme, but when they are armed with little more than PR material and fallacies like "I got paid so it's not a scam (to me)" they rarely have much success convincing anyone but themselves.

Some goes for "special pleading", i.e. come up with reasons why their scheme is the exception, not the rule, i.e. it fits all the definitions of a scam, but it's not a scam

Some go for a "no true Scotsman" gambit, claiming that the company itself is fine. It's only a few "rogue reps" that ruined things for everybody else.

Though recently, in span of a week or two, I saw a new variation on "no true Scotsman"... which I will call...

"The Evil Twin Did It!"  aka "They stole our name!"

Scam Tactics: Evolution of a Scam, from Proto-Share to Investment Fund to Cryptocurrency

A scam, like a specie, must evolve in face of pressure, such as law enforcement, spreading information about how scammy it was, and so on. To this end, it will often adopt the following tactics:

• Language barrier -- spread to an area that speaks a very different language, like from US to Asia

• Jargon barrier -- adopt modern buzzwords and drop buzzwords out of favor 

• Obfuscation barrier -- have multiple company names, then intentionally mistranslate them to create even more confusion. 

Today, we will document one such scam, chronologically, including various names and translations, to show you how a scam evolved.

The scam went by various names. In China it is best known as American Continental Mining Industries 美洲矿业, but it's known elsewhere as USFIA

In November 2014, Chinese media covered that several scammers were extradited from Thailand that were scammers of something called 美洲矿业 that scammed people in Changde 常德, a city in Hunan province, China, as a part of International Fugitive Apprehension program known as "Operation Foxhunt 2014 獵狐2014". Changde police after receiving word that many downlines of the scam is traveling to Thailand for a special promo event, also travelled to Thailand and received cooperation from Thai police. Changde police then infiltrated the event on October 29th, 2014 in Thailand and filmed various promoters attending and speaking at the event, all talking about earn kaboodles of money without doing anything (if you invest now). After gathering the evidence, which was handed to Thai police, Thai police then made the arrests and handed two suspects over to Chinese police who brought them back to China. 

Just to break down the title:

美洲 -- American Continent
矿业 -- Mining Industry

So again, the name of the scam is American Continental Mining Industries 美洲矿业 Searching for this term on Chinese media yielded various newspaper reports, as well as Chinese affiliate promotional material. Another Chinese coverage stated:

今年5月13日，常德市民刘某来到公安机关报案，称将32500元作为会费缴纳给“美洲矿业”公司，参与所谓的琥珀期权、原始股的投资，但过了很长时间，没见任何回报，意识到受骗了。

(2014) May 13th, Mr. Liu of Changde reported he was victim of a scam. He handed 32500 RMB to "American Continental Mining Industries" to participate in supposedly Amber fund and proto-share investment. However, after a long time, there was no returns, and realized he had been scammed. 

接到报警后，常德市公安局立案调查。这个组织对外谎称由“中美政治协商促进会”创办，已获国家商务部的直销牌照，在山东、辽宁、浙江、广东、广西、云南、河南、湖南等10多个省份开展传销活动，还多次以“美洲矿业”之名在中国举办传销宣传聚会。

After receiving the report, Changde MinSec started its investigation. This (criminal) organization claimed to be started by a "China US Political Consultive Promotional Committee" and holds a Chinese "direct sales" license, and engaged in pyramid sales activities in Shandong, Liaoning, Zhejiang, Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, Henan, Hunan, and various provinces, and many times using the name "American Continental Mining Industries" to hold several promotional meetings in China. 

截至2014年6月，该犯罪团伙在中国发展会员180余层级共8万余人，非法收取会费近10亿人民币。

Up to June 2014, this criminal group has developed over 180 levels of downlines of over 80000 members, and illegally solicited funds of nearly 1 billion RMB (~161 million USD)

This news item explained that 2 members, a Mr. Chen (陈某) and a Mr. Lu (陆某) left the country before the police swept up the organization and arrested 22 leaders. Mr. Lu apparently changed the organization name to American Continental Amber (美洲琥) and continue to "remote" manage from afar. As two were arrested in Thailand, we assume both were extradited back to China, but that's not the end of this scam.

Also keep in mind that the Chinese equivalent of Senate is called Chinese People's Political Consultive Conference 中国人民政治协商会议 and scam's parent organization (中美政治协商促进会) may have been picked to be a soundalike and official-sounding.

So here we have the following events:

2014 -- scam started as American Continental Mining Industries 美洲矿业

2013-2014: American Continental Mining Industries 美洲矿业 Searching for this term on Chinese media yielded various newspaper reports, as well as Chinese affiliate promotional material. Another Chinese coverage stated:

2014 June -- arrests in Changde, China related to 美洲矿业, leader escaped (to Thailand? US?) and renamed operation to American Continental Amber 美洲琥

2014 October -- arrests in Thailand in cooperation between Thai and Chinese police related to 美洲矿业, subjects extradited to China


From here, the scam went quiet in China... Because it was apparently relaunched in the US.