大学生买游戏卡，银行卡即被冻结！引出17亿元大案

Core Viewpoint - Gift cards have become a convenient prepaid consumption tool but are increasingly exploited as a "hidden channel" for cross-border money laundering due to their strong anonymity and ease of circulation [1][2]. Group 1: Recent Cases and Financial Impact - In September 2024, Shanghai police uncovered the first national case of illegal currency exchange using gift cards, involving an amount of 2 billion yuan and yielding over 15 million yuan in profits [7]. - In February 2025, a criminal gang in Lianyungang was dismantled, with an involved amount of 1.7 billion yuan, which provided settlement services for illegal funds through the buying and selling of gift cards [3][6]. Group 2: Mechanisms of Money Laundering - The illegal exchange process involves a chain of operations: foreign currency to gift cards to renminbi, including upstream fund absorption, underground bank exchanges, and platform fund settlements [3][8]. - Criminal groups purchase gift cards at a discount (8-9% off) and sell them on social platforms, leveraging the global circulation and non-real-name transaction characteristics of gift cards [5][8]. Group 3: Vulnerabilities in E-commerce Platforms - The rapid growth of cross-border e-commerce has created fertile ground for money laundering, with 2024 cross-border e-commerce import and export totaling 2.63 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 10.8% [8]. - E-commerce platforms have vulnerabilities in identity verification and account management, allowing criminals to bypass regulations using technologies like broadband cat pools and temporary email services [8][9]. Group 4: Law Enforcement Actions - The police have intensified efforts to combat money laundering and underground banking, resulting in the dismantling of over 130 underground banking and money laundering cases [9]. - 17 suspects, including the leader of the criminal gang, have been arrested for illegal business operations, with further investigations ongoing [9].