Reports of attempts at extortion among the Chinese student body in Ireland are not new. Gardai have been alerted to several incidents where students paid money to other Chinese people and had difficulties getting it back.
Before they are granted visas, Chinese students need to produce evidence to the immigration authorities that they have enough money to live on while they are studying. They usually show their bank account details. A typical sum for living expenses for someone on a September-to-June course would be £10,000.
Newly-arrived students usually stay with host families for a month and therefore would not initially have utility bills to satisfy the banks' requirements under money-laundering legislation. Ms Jacqueline Joyce, from a body representing 125 registered English-language schools, contacted gardai after hearing that students were resorting to depositing their money in the bank accounts of other Chinese people and finding it difficult to get it back.
"The exploitation was from other Chinese people here already, saying they would look after the students' money because they have a bank account, and then potentially not giving them the money back or charging them for it," says Ms Joyce, from the Marketing English in Ireland - Recognised English Language Schools' Association.
Ms Joyce said several such incidents were reported to the Garda, and the problem died down.
Gardai believe some young Chinese people use the student visa scheme to get to Ireland to work illegally, usually in low-paid catering or cleaning jobs. They tend to stay and work within their own community and gardai suspect that they move freely between Ireland and the UK for employment. Very few apply for asylum.
The Chinese students and other immigrants are generally less publicly visible than other nationalities. They have no group representing their interests in the South, although there is a Chinese Welfare Association in Belfast.
Gardai suspect that some students are registering with schools but not attending classes, or are staying on illegally in the State after their courses finish. Officers from the Garda National Immigration Bureau are currently investigating how some colleges operate.
It is understood that gardai are investigating one grind school which has 900 students enrolled on its books, but only nine classrooms.