China TV shows 'scam centre boss'

Chen indicted in US for financial crimes

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A frame grab from a video released by China's Ministry of Public Security on Thursday shows guards escorting accused scam boss Chen Zhi off a plane in Beijing.

(AFP)

Chinese TV showed footage of US-indicted tycoon Chen Zhi being escorted by armed police after his extradition to China from Cambodia, where authorities on Thursday ordered the liquidation of a bank he founded linked to a massive "scam centre" network.

Mr Chen, who chairs a conglomerate the United States says is a front for a multibillion-dollar online fraud operation, was shown in handcuffs and hooded as he was led off a plane at a Beijing airport by black-clad Swat officers, with state broadcaster CCTV describing him as the "leader of a major transnational gambling and fraud crime syndicate".

The surprise arrest of Mr Chen is the biggest step yet in efforts by a number of countries to crack down on sprawling compounds in Southeast Asia that house tens of thousands of workers, many trafficked and forced into scamming victims around the world, in what the United Nations says has evolved into a sophisticated global industry.