what just happened Chinese tax policies have created a profitable gray market for hardware smugglers. Hong Kong, which offers much lower VAT rates and easy access to its border, has become a popular pickup destination for smugglers trying to covertly smuggle goods back to mainland China. Customs officials have arrested countless individuals attempting everything from attaching hardware to their bodies to wearing stuffed prosthetics. Last week, a man took a completely different route, instead relying on Mother Nature to help him cross the border.
The money to be made by avoiding VAT in mainland China is too big for some to resist. In a report originally published by Tom’s hardwareGongbei customs officials were recently alerted to suspicious behavior after observing a passenger car driving through their border post. The vehicle was likely under closer scrutiny by officials as it attempted to cross the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge in the middle of a Category 4 typhoon.
The driver of the vehicle, a hardware smuggler from mainland China, believed Typhoon Saola would provide the perfect cover to smuggle contraband hardware out of Hong Kong and back across the Chinese border. Unfortunately, Mother Nature couldn’t keep her end of the bargain. customs officials approached the vehicleand the inspection uncovered more than 1,500 processors, 1,470 memory modules, 30 graphics cards and over 40,000 NAND flash modules in the trunk of the vehicle.
typhoon #Saola will pass within 50 kilometers of Hong Kong as a Category 4 hurricane with winds up to 220 kilometers per hour (140 miles per hour). This is now Hong Kong’s waterfrontpic.twitter.com/vtpzaeDW9n
— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) September 1, 2023
The attempt is anything but a new incident at Chinese border crossings. Earlier this year, the agency reported that more than $4 million worth of contraband hardware had been seized by customs officials.
In 2021, customs officials confiscated More than $123,000 went for 10th Gen Intel Core i7 and Core i9 processors strapped to a rider’s ribs and calves. Authorities stopped another one smuggling attempt in April of this year when two men were spotted illegally transporting more than 70 graphics cards and 350 live lobsters. First Last monthDuring a vehicle scan, the authorities discovered another driver with a total of 837 Intel 12th and 13th generation processors and 900 Corsair memory modules.
Although the smuggled hardware is confiscated by the authorities before it reaches its destination, it ultimately ends up in the hands of paying customers. Instead of destroying confiscated goods, customs officials will sell the smuggled hardware at a public auction, according to Chinese regulations. All proceeds from the hardware sold legally go directly to the state coffers, where it is likely to be used to deter future smuggling attempts.