ChainCatcher news, according to reports from the Hong Kong media, the Hong Kong police have announced a major theft case that occurred at a virtual currency exchange store in the Sham Shui Po district. A 43-year-old man was robbed while exchanging 4 million Hong Kong dollars in cash, and the police have arrested two men involved in the case.On the 25th and 26th, the police arrested two men holding Hong Kong identity cards, aged 23 and 30, respectively, on charges of "conspiracy to commit theft." They are suspected of colluding with a female store clerk and others to set up a virtual currency exchange store specifically to steal customers' cash transaction amounts. The 23-year-old suspect has been provisionally charged with "conspiracy to commit theft" and appeared in the West Kowloon Magistrates' Court on the morning of the 26th; the 30-year-old suspect is still under investigation.The police revealed that the involved exchange store had been operating for about a month and a half. The victim had previously conducted two successful transactions of approximately 400,000 and 800,000 Hong Kong dollars in early September, which may have been a trap set by the fraudsters to gain trust and lure the victim into increasing the investment to 4 million Hong Kong dollars. Notably, there have been 12 similar cases reported in the West Kowloon area in the first nine months of this year, with a total amount involved reaching 10.8 million Hong Kong dollars. In these cases, victims were either robbed or stolen from during cash transactions or did not receive the corresponding amounts after transferring cryptocurrency.

ChainCatcher news, on July 5, 2024, the Wudang Branch of the Guiyang Public Security Bureau issued a "Notice of Termination of Patent Technology Services for Crimes Involving Virtual Currency," with the reason for project termination being that the supplier's commitment letter was not stamped with an official seal.The project content includes the "Dandelion Organization Leadership Pyramid Scheme," which involves analyzing criminal behavior and profiles related to nearly 10T+ data addresses and over 2.5 billion account relationships on public chains such as Ethereum and Tron. It requires secure blockchain data collection for Ethereum and Tron, splitting blockchain data fields, obtaining valid wallet addresses from massive amounts of addresses, locating the flow of funds, identifying fund retention, and determining transaction relationships. Additionally, it needs to have extensive data labeling analysis capabilities, overseas exchange address recognition capabilities, and services for verifying overseas exchanges. The project funding is 9.5 million RMB.

ChainCatcher news, People's Court Daily published an article titled "Criminal Identification of Virtual Currency Settlement Payment Assistance Behavior".The article points out that virtual currency settlement payment assistance behavior refers to the act of using virtual currency to provide property transfer assistance for others committing telecom fraud. In the criminal identification of virtual currency settlement payment behavior, it is necessary to grasp the characteristics of the criminal proceeds, the demarcation points between upstream telecom fraud and subsequent concealment or hiding of criminal proceeds and their benefits, as well as the influence of the helper's subjective knowledge and the timing and content of "collusion" on the determination of charges, thereby distinguishing easily confused charges.First, determine whether the object transferred using virtual currency possesses the three characteristics of criminal proceeds, namely property nature, criminal illegality, and certainty. Second, use the completed fraud crime as a boundary point to define whether the virtual currency settlement payment behavior is an act of concealing or hiding criminal proceeds and their benefits, or an act of assisting upstream telecom fraud. Finally, it should be determined whether the virtual currency settlement payment behavior constitutes an accomplice to telecom fraud based on whether the helper conspired with others in advance, whether they only recognized that others were illegally using information networks to commit crimes, or whether they knew that others were committing fraud.In summary, there are three scenarios for the criminal identification of virtual currency settlement payment assistance behavior:The first is when the helper did not conspire with others before the fraud was completed, and after the fraud was completed and the fraudster obtained property with property nature, illegality, and certainty, the helper intentionally provided assistance in virtual currency settlement payment, which constitutes the crime of concealing or hiding criminal proceeds and their benefits.The second is when the helper objectively engaged in acts of concealing or hiding criminal proceeds, but formed a mental connection with others regarding the fraud before the fraud was completed, and their behavior should be recognized as an accomplice to the fraud crime; if the helper formed a mental connection with others regarding the implementation of online criminal activities after the fraud was completed, their behavior constitutes the crime of assisting information network criminal activities.The third is when the fraud crime is not completed or the property does not possess the three characteristics of criminal proceeds, but the helper knowingly provides virtual currency settlement payment services for others committing fraud, which should be recognized as an accomplice to the fraud crime; if the helper knows that others are committing online criminal activities but does not know the specific crime being committed, they should be held criminally responsible for assisting information network criminal activities.

ChainCatcher News, the China Court Network published an article titled "The Qualification of Illegal Acquisition of Virtual Currency" authored by the Chongqing Fourth Intermediate People's Court. The content shows that there are currently three views on the criminal qualification of illegal acquisition of virtual currency: it can be qualified as the crime of illegally obtaining data from a computer information system; it should be recognized as theft; or it may violate two crimes, with the option to impose a heavier penalty for one. As for the legal attributes of virtual currency, the judgment should be based on legal provisions, including: the property nature of computer information system data, non-monetary nature, and property nature.The legal qualification of illegally obtaining virtual currency depends on the time the act occurred. If it occurred before September 2017, virtual currency is regarded as property in the criminal law sense, which may constitute theft and the crime of illegally obtaining computer information, with the option to impose a heavier penalty for one. If it occurred after September 2017, virtual currency is no longer regarded as property under criminal law and is not subject to property crime regulations.

ChainCatcher news, according to a reporter from the Ping An Hubei public account, it has been learned that the main suspects, including Qiu, involved in a cross-border online gambling case with a transaction amount of 400 billion yuan, have been legally sent for review by the Public Security Bureau of Shayang County, Jingmen City, Hubei Province. The police found that all transactions by the gamblers were settled using a single type of virtual currency. The special investigation team followed the clues and successfully identified multiple virtual currency accounts involved in the case. The team coordinated with the virtual currency issuing institution to freeze the relevant involved virtual currency accounts, preventing the transfer of virtual currency worth 160 million USD (approximately over 1 billion yuan) into the hands of the suspect group.In October 2022, the Shayang County People's Court made a ruling to legally confiscate part of the frozen virtual currency. This case became the first in the country to have "virtual currency confiscated by court ruling."

ChainCatcher news, the Ministry of Public Security recently organized a regional campaign against telecom network fraud in the "E, Hunan, Shandong, and Henan" areas, directing the public security agencies of Shandong, Henan, Hubei, and Hunan provinces to simultaneously carry out concentrated strikes, successfully capturing a large number of suspects involved in fraud, dismantling over 3,300 criminal dens, and seizing 104,000 (units) tools used for crimes such as mobile phones, computers, and "two cards," as well as confiscating cash and virtual currencies (USDT) with a total value of over 58 million yuan. (source link)