BEIJING, July 5 (Xinhuanet) -- China has cracked its biggest cross-border foreign exchange scam, involving more than 40 million US dollars, according to Saturday's China Daily.

　　The illegal transactions occurred in the city of Weihai in east China's Shandong Province. Ringleader Zhao Shengxuan and five other accomplices have been tried and sentenced by a local court.

　　The criminal gang has operated a currency black market between China and South Korea since 2000, said the Beijing-based newspaper.

　　First, they changed the Chinese currency Renminbi into South Korean won by selling Renminbi to some foreign ventures in China. These companies' South Korean offices sent the South Korean currency to an account established by the crime ring in South Korea.

　　These Korean won were changed into US dollars in South Korea and then brought into China in batches and sold at a profit.

　　The US dollars traded by Zhao's group have been bought and soldin nearly 10 cities and regions including Qingdao and Yantai of Shandong, and Shenyang and Yanji of Northeast China.

　　A growing number of illegal foreign exchange transactions across China's borders have been exposed in recent years, especially money laundering, according to the newspaper. Enditem