China cracks down hard on cross-border crypto fraud, jailing fraudsters in a major blow to digital crime targeting Indians.
China Drops Heavy Prison Terms Over Cross-Border Crypto Fraud on Indians
A wide-reaching crypto scam targeting Indian nationals has led to harsh prison terms for a group of Chinese fraudsters, following months of investigation and judicial proceedings. The case, which highlights the growing threat of cross-border digital fraud, was brought to light by both Chinese media and independent analysts monitoring regional crypto-related crime. The fraudulent scheme involved luring victims with false promises of high investment returns on a fake digital platform and then funneling their funds into cryptocurrency for illicit profit. Crypto reporter Wu Blockchain commented on the sentencing Monday on social media platform X:
A local court in China recently sentenced nine Chinese fraudsters to prison terms ranging from five to fourteen years. They targeted Indians for USDT fraud, defrauding a total of 66,800 Indians of about US$6 million.
Chinese news outlet Guancha first reported the story on April 13, confirming that the People’s Court of Heze Economic Development Zone in Shandong Province handled the trial. The report detailed how the fraud ring constructed a sophisticated scheme using chat apps and fake identities to build trust with Indian victims, ultimately leading them to invest in a phony platform called Senee.
According to the ruling, He Moutian led the operation and orchestrated various roles across the group, which began operating in May 2023. He was quoted as saying:
I met an Indian on a chat app and introduced the Senee network investment platform, using high returns of 8% to 15% monthly to attract investment.
The group used fake online personas, including photos and documents, to pose as wealthy Indian women who had profited from investing. Li Mouwang, a group member, said his character was an Indian woman who gained wealth through investments and used romantic conversations with Indian men to convince them to invest in the Senee fund. Judge Liu Xilei, who oversaw the case, said the scheme was tightly organized, well-coordinated, and intentionally aimed at foreign nationals, although similar methods still impact domestic victims.
Source: Bitcoin
