The UK has seized the assets of two Chinese men accused of running ‘industrial scale’ scams from Southeast Asia.

Chen Zhi and Qiu Wei Ren were both added to the UK sanctions list on Tuesday as part of an international crackdown on fraud, along with a series of businesses linked to them.

Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said the men were the ‘masterminds’ behind ‘horrific scam centres’ that used forced labour in Cambodia and Myanmar to trick victims across the world.

Chen’s UK assets include a £12 million mansion near Primrose Hill, in London, and 10 Fenchurch Street, an office building in the City of London bought through one of his companies for £95 million in 2020.

Qiu’s assets include seven flats in the CentrePoint Tower at the end of Oxford Street, and 10 flats in the Nine Elms deve

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