Overview
- A 28-year-old international student, identified in police reports as Mingyi Chi, was arrested in May and charged with dishonestly intending to obtain a gain; he was remanded in custody on May 21 and will apply for bail in the Supreme Court later this month.
- AFP investigators allege Chi lodged more than $5 million in fraudulent GST/TRS refund claims linked to luxury and counterfeit watches presented at Sydney Airport.
- Police say the alleged scheme involved rapid short-haul travel to China, with investigators reporting more than 20 trips to Chengdu and many stays of less than 24 hours used to move goods across borders.
- Officers executed warrants in Sydney on May 20 and seized about $270,000 in cash, multiple luxury watches including a Richard Mille and three Patek Philippe pieces, counterfeit watches, phones, receipts and a cash-counting machine.
- Authorities warn the case is part of a suspected transnational network that exploits the Tourist Refund Scheme and say the pattern of travel, structured ATM deposits and paperwork tampering shows how border refund rules can be abused and may prompt further AFP and ABF scrutiny.