The many stringent regulations that Mainland China has for cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, which people are interested in, have the country struggling with it becoming a base for cryptocurrency frauds. No matter what the Chinese government does with regards to its crypto policies, fraudsters continue to thrive.
Police Crack Major Virtual Currency Investment Fraud in Yulin, Four Arrested
On July 27, four people involved were arrested by the Public Security Bureau of Jingbian County, Yulin, in connection with a high-profile virtual currency investment fraud case, which totaled a sum of 410,000 yuan, and which the police said was successfully smashed by themiserably cracked a significant virtual currency investment fraud case.
The Investigation
On July 16, 2024, at the start of the investigation, the complainant, a person, named Mr. Wang, told the authorities that he, gambling a sum of 410,000 yuan via the virtual money of which he demand that it be removed, had been deceived by the use of an online virtual money trick. He said he received the suggestion from some of the members he made contact with online who were supposedly experts of a system loophole and whom he takes into trust that there will ascend from trading cryptos. -“
Having received Wang’s complaint, the Crime Investigation Unit immediately initiated an investigation into the case. After a series of interviews and thorough investigation the authorities managed to establish the identity of the suspects.
Arrests and Detainment
The quick police action resulted in the arrest of two suspects, Zhai and Li, in Zhengzhou City, Henan, on July 23. Later, on July 25, two other suspects, Wang and Li, were taken into custody in Kaifeng City, Henan. The four suspects are incarcerated on scams, and the case is in the ongoing investigation.
Modus Operandi of the Fraudsters
As per the investigation, on July 4, in an attempt to profit from virtual currency, the suspect Zhai, along with Wang and the two Lis, traveled to Jingbian County. The victim, Wang, was motivated to invest in virtual currency through an app by online conversations with someone else who claimed to know system loopholes that would guarantee profitable returns. On the other side of the conversation, the person sent a series of photographs of him with a computer terminal that fed into the computer databases of financial institutions. Following the transaction where Wang was sold virtual currency and the suspects withdrew 410,000 Yuan in cash, having the profit of around 50,000 Yuan, the four suspects were suspected of having committed the crime.
China Cracks Down on Illegal Crypto Activities Despite Recognizing Digital Assets as Property
China’s position on cryptocurrencies has been quite supportive and at the same time, the number of Bitcoin miners operating in Mainland China is rapidly increasing as it rose to the global number two spot over the last 2 years. The government of China has canceled a number of wild and woolly crimes, including trading and mining, with the latest Bitcoin ban implemented in 2021, which affects virtually all cryptocurrency transactions. Despite all these acts, the country’s leadership, China has still admitted the fact that cryptocurrency is the object of the virtual property that law protects, it is so allowing the individuals to hold digital assets however.
Legal Recognition and Recent Court Decisions
The cryprocurrency plant is slowly being legalized, limiting the crime aspect of digital currency transactions. Several courts across the continent have recognized virtual currency as the same as any other digitized assets, thus local court reports also allow for cryptocurrency use. Subsequently, this court judgment could allow for all sorts of transactions such as inventories, real estate, debt instruments, etc. to be issued in digital form to aggregate more money.
Ongoing Efforts to Combat Crypto Fraud
With a police force in charge of the said solid framework, China has been putting forth a lot of effort in thwarting the crypto fraud connected to illegal side, which is always marginalized through police routine checks. The illegal underground banks that ran their businesses through the use of crypto and prohibited exchange services was raided by the State Administration for Foreign Exchange of China in December 2023. It was an organized arrangement whose operation spanned 17 provinces and over 1,000 bank accounts and the scheme subsequently moved 15.8 billion yuan ($2.2 billion) for the exchange of crypto in overseas outlets besides providing yuan exchange services.
Furthermore, china’s judiciary system set prison time for the members who were found to have been part of a gang, which in China used to launder money with digital digital yuan in the minimum range of seven to sixteen months. According to the court, they “this gang” laundered 200,000 Chinese yuan ($27,580) digitally within a five-day period in the middle of September in Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province.
Conclusion
The crackdown operation just in the recent month in Shaanxi announced cohesiveness and restraint in regard to China’s ongoing quest to stop crypto fraud. Although China has the strictest regulations regarding digital currency, to this day, there are activities of an illegal nature that cannot be thwarted without the involvement of vigilant law enforcement actions.
