Chinese authorities, in the midst of an intense crackdown against crypto-related activities, have already busted a network of more than 170 criminal groups and arrested 1,100 suspects allegedly involved in money laundering activities.
According to the Ministry of Public Security, these “charged individuals” are supposedly accused of converting illegal proceeds into digital currencies via crypto exchanges. They laundered illegal proceeds from telephone and internet scams.
The agency, though, kept silent and chose not to reveal the amount of money that was involved in this latest crypto-related operation by the local authorities.
How the illegal activities were facilitated
Sharing some details about the works of the suspects now in the custody of Chinese authorities, the MPS said criminal groups organized personnel and had them register on different cryptocurrency trading platforms using personal bank cards and information.
These people buy and exchange crypto while following the requirements of the platform they are registered to and eventually they become “coin farmers” and aid in laundering money.
These launderers provided their services for their criminal clients for commissions ranging from 1.5% to 5%, facilitating the conversion of illegal proceeds into cryptocurrencies via crypto exchanges. High income from this attracted a large number of people to participate and provide services to fraud gangs.
Taking advantage
Security officials leveraged this opportunity to once again remind the general public that there is a significant increase in the number of crimes that involve cryptocurrencies and that they need to remember the rule of law to avoid being accomplices to fraudsters.
Meanwhile, the biggest crypto exchanges in China namely Huobi, OKEx, and Binance have already been blocked from the most popular local internet search engines and social media platforms, proving the seriousness of the government on the crackdown it has initiated.
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