Despite a statewide crackdown on crypto and mining enacted in September of this year, reports from Chinese provincial law enforcement organizations appear to demonstrate that crypto crime is still on the rise.
According to officials attending at a Songjiang Procuratorate press briefing, counterfeit currency-related crime in Shanghai is “declining dramatically.” The procuratorate, on the other hand, warned that criminal cases involving criminals “using virtual money as a criminal tool” are on the rise, including new types of fraud and “generating higher losses to residents.”
All but one of the cases handled by the procuratorate’s currency fraud-related offences unit so far this year have been tied to crypto in some way, according to the prosecutorate.
It also revealed information about a criminal case involving a man named Song, the owner of what appeared to be a thriving medium-sized crypto exchange.
The “exchange,” according to the body, claimed to let consumers to acquire bitcoin (BTC), ethereum (ETH), and other key cryptocurrencies – but it was just a front for a sophisticated scheme in which Song made over USD 103,000 in “illegal profits.” The body said that all “transactions” on the platform were manufactured and false. Song and five others were charged with fraud, found guilty, and sentenced to up to ten years in prison.
Fraudsters raised around USD 156,000 from victims who thought they were investing in cryptocurrency in another “similar” scam.
Despite a crackdown that Chinese officials believed would push cryptocurrency to the margins of society, news sources have continued to highlight examples of crypto-related fraud rings since September.
Although this may be part of an effort to cast crypto in a distinctly negative light (something Beijing has been keen to do ever since it first formulated its digital yuan plans), it also suggests that a taste for crypto is still alive and well in the Middle Kingdom.
Multiple East Asian crypto experts have told Cryptonews.com on condition of anonymity that bitcoin and altcoin traders in China are still using USD-pegged stablecoins, overseas exchanges and over-the-counter brokers to carry out transactions – following a freeze-out from domestic banks.
And the fight against cryptocurrency continues in other parts of the country. The Agricultural Development Bank of China’s regional headquarters in Jinggangshan, Jiangxi Province, has launched a “crypto awareness” public awareness campaign, with slogans like “Stay away from virtual money, preserve the safety of your funds.”
On LED display units at bank branches, such slogans flash.
Another source of anti-crypto marketing appears to be the bank’s crypto “consulting” support center. According to JX News, the bank would also use WeChat and social media to warn clients and city residents about the dangers of cryptocurrency.
China CITIC Bank, the country’s seventh-largest lender, has also issued a warning about the dangers of crypto-related investments. The bank listed the perils of investing in phony “virtual currency and blockchain technology”-related enterprises in a list of nine scams to avoid, according to the media source 66WZ.
Away from Mainland China, crypto fraud appears to be on the rise in other parts of Asia.
In Taiwan, CNews (via Yahoo) reported that a woman aged “around 50” was lured into making what she believed was a crypto investment by an individual posing as a former classmate.
The fraudster also appears to have pulled off a similar scam with a woman in her twenties, convincing the women to buy crypto and invest their funds on what they thought was an above-board crypto exchange or brokerage – before making off with their tokens.
Source: Crypto News
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