Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, May 27 -

Question: fraud, money laundering, price fixing ...... how virtual currency has become "the new darling of the crime"?

　　Xinhua News Agency reporters Wu Yu, Wang Chenyang, Cheng Siqi

　　In the "coin circle", it can be a matter of minutes from "ecstatic" to "sorrowful".

The skyrocketing prices, the wild lies, the elaborate scams... these chaos filled with the "coin circle" make it easy for many currency holders to fall into the traps laid by criminals.

　　What is the "magic" of virtual currency, and why has it become the "new favorite of crime"?

　　“At the beginning, I thought I could make a profit, but I didn’t expect more than 100,000 yuan to lose money.” Ms. Cao, a citizen of Wuxi, Jiangsu, told reporters that she entered the "coin circle" for the first time in 2019. Although she knew the risks were not small, she looked at the soaring prices. Listening to the lobbying of people around her, she still invested in several "virtual currencies" on the Shell International platform in one go.

　　At the beginning, the "currency value" continued to rise, and some prices even tripled, and Ms. Cao kept making additional investments.

She feels that as long as someone buys in and she changes hands in the middle, she won't lose money.

As a result, after more than half a year, the platform was unable to trade and withdraw cash, and she was shocked to be fooled.

　　There are many people who have similar experiences with Ms. Cao.

Although some people are uncomfortable with this method of making money, they still want to get rid of the fire, and feel lucky that they will not be the last shot of the "drumming and passing flowers".

Many criminals take advantage of this, using virtual currency and blockchain as a guise to conduct illegal fund-raising, fraud and other activities.

　　At the end of 2020, the People's Court of Xiangshan District, Huaibei City, Anhui Province publicly sentenced a large cross-border telecommunications fraud case packaged with virtual currency, and 79 defendants were sentenced for committing fraud.

　　This criminal group often "targets" customers with financial strength, and promotes the appreciation of virtual currency products through live broadcast rooms and WeChat group communication.

After the customer invests in real money, the virtual currency will continue to rise in the early stage, which will make people profitable and induce customers to continue to increase their investment.

When the investment reaches a certain amount, the criminal group will manipulate the virtual currency to fall off a cliff, creating the appearance of a loss for the customer, thereby defrauding the victim's property.

　　It can be seen that behind the "magic power" of virtual currencies are often driven by high returns and turning a blind eye to high risks.

　　"I listen to classes every day, learn about the currency circle earnestly, and operate fiercely. The result is only 2.5 yuan left." A "post-90s" investor told reporters that he is keen on new things and alternative investments. Thousands of thousands of dollars were invested when the currency skyrocketed.

Unexpectedly, a few days later, due to a few comments from the "coin circle" that the currency fell sharply, he began to suspect that there was a "banker" manipulation behind the virtual currency price.

　　In recent years, virtual currencies such as Dogecoin, Catcoin, Pigcoin, and Eelcoin have emerged in endlessly. These virtual currencies are neither "currency" nor have anything to do with these animals. It seems that the name is "kind and cute".

　　These "air coins" have no physical support and have no application value. Their expansion model is highly consistent with the money-trapping routine: the founder registered a shell company to launch "virtual coins". Volume holders manipulated the price to soar and then sold, and the price plummet caused many investors to suffer heavy losses...

　　In the opinion of experts, the name of virtual currency is called "currency", but it is not currency at all.

It is neither issued by the monetary authority of any country, nor can it be used as currency in the market. At best, it is a specific virtual commodity and should not be the subject of speculation.

Among them, many "air coins" issuance technology is vague, the issuance ceiling is uncertain, there are a large number of holders, and it is easy to be manipulated by "bookmakers".

　　my country’s regulatory authorities have long been aware of the risks brought by virtual currency trading hype. They have not only issued multiple relevant documents requiring financial institutions and payment institutions not to carry out bitcoin-related businesses, but also halted the issuance and financing of various tokens and carried out special projects. Remediation.

At present, my country's virtual currency trading platforms and initial coin offering (ICO) trading platforms have been basically eliminated.

　　However, many platforms place their servers overseas, cheating domestically and counting money overseas, and many trading platforms engage in cross-border money laundering and evade foreign exchange supervision.

　　The total number of bitcoins is limited and scarce, so it is sought after by some people.

However, virtual currencies such as Bitcoin are anonymous, difficult to trace, and borderless, and they have also become an ideal way for criminals to launder money.

　　The Supreme People's Procuratorate and the People's Bank of China have published a typical case of virtual currency money laundering.

The defendant Chen Mouzhi “laundered” the stolen money into Bitcoin after his ex-husband Chen Moubo absconded overseas due to suspected fund-raising fraud, for Chen Moubo to squander overseas, amounting to more than 900,000 yuan.

Finally, Chen Mouzhi was sentenced to two years in prison and fined 200,000 yuan for the crime of money laundering.

　　The "currency circle" is not a place outside the law.

With the ever-increasing improvement of relevant laws and regulations and the increasing efforts of international cooperation to combat money, the "gray space" of using bitcoin and other virtual currencies to launder money is becoming narrower and narrower.

　　Recently, virtual currency prices have soared and plummeted, and virtual currency trading hype has rebounded sharply.

In the face of the chaotic "coin circle", the Financial Committee of the State Council recently sent a clear signal to the market to crack down on bitcoin mining and trading; related associations jointly issued a document to remind them to prevent the risk of virtual currency trading speculation.

　　Experts remind that investors must establish correct investment concepts, enhance risk prevention awareness, and be alert to illegal activities such as virtual currency fraud, pyramid schemes, and money laundering.

Don't believe in the promises made by the sky, don't blindly follow the trend and hype, always be alert to speculation risks, and avoid your own property losses.