So, a guy from China just got convicted in this huge international fraud case, and it's led to what’s thought to be the largest crypto seizure ever.
The police say they snagged 61,000 bitcoins, which is over £5 billion or around $6.7 billion at today's rates.
Zhimin Qian, also known as Yadi Zhang, admitted guilt on Monday at Southwark Crown Court for unlawfully acquiring and holding the crypto.
Another dude appeared in court on Tuesday and also confessed to being part of the scheme.
Seng Hok Ling from Malaysia, living in Matlock, Derbyshire, pleaded guilty for being involved in money laundering as of April 23, 2024.
According to the charges, he was dealing with crypto for Qian, knowing full well it was to help control criminal assets for someone else.
From 2014 to 2017, Qian was running a massive scam in China, scamming over 128,000 people and hiding the stolen money in bitcoin, as the Met reported.
Qian's guilty plea comes after a seven-year investigation into a vast money laundering network that started with a tip about the movement of illicit funds.
The guy had been on the run from justice for five years until they finally caught her, and it took a complicated investigation across different countries to make it happen, according to Detective Sergeant Isabella Grotto, who was in charge of the probe.
I saw that a few days ago. I'm wondering how well their security works and if we'll also get US style crypto reserve now.
They're certainly not going to be able to suction off all that at once unless somewhere like Coinbase is interested in handling that amount of stolen funds... Unless it goes back to the people who were originally defrauded but I'm guessing it's unlikely they'll be able to use crypto.
To have seized 61,000 bitcoins at once is certainly no joke.
Yes, the news says that they are going to hold them until the victims have to be reimbursed, but for that to happen, a verification procedure will have to be followed. However, it says nothing about Coinbase or any other CEX. They could have been seized in cold storage even though we think it is unlikely, because one would think that if someone is smart enough to scam that amount, it would be logical for them to know how to keep their funds safe. But we cannot rule out that possibility.
61,000 Bitcoins are definitely worth a thorough investigation even if it has to involve different jurisdictions in several countries. I get that the news is that the seizure is the most valuable in Bitcoin's history, but I would like to know where the laundered money came from, if it was from drugs, weapons, slavery or simple scams. More than out of mere curiosity, to know how the world works.
It seems like criminals are being caught more frequently now, and I suppose it's safe to say that it can be a part of a country's reserve. That's a lot. What I'm worried about is how they would give it back to the victims and make sure that it is "theirs."
This large crime must have been worked on together by different countries, so I'm quite uncertain how this will come about
It was from the typical investment scam:
It is crazy how many people fall for crypto investment scams. It simply goes to show that a lot of people do not understand crypto and they are so greedy to think that it is a get rich quick scheme. To think that this scammer was able to defraud over 128k people of 61k BTC between 2014 and 2017 is simply crazy.
Consider how victims are reimbursed in the US. First, they must go through a very complex compliance process, provide numerous documents, confirm the legality of their income and coin purchases, and fill out a ton of paperwork. Typically, an investor who has lost several thousand dollars finds it easier to forget about their loss. Unclaimed coins go to the national budget.
The funny thing is that the government may seek to keep the money, or at least return it to those affected, based on the value of the dollar/euro in those years, not the value of cryptocurrencies.
Also, she moved from living above a restaurant to a "million-pound rented house" in North London. All these changes will certainly raise suspicion.
It appears that, despite Chinese law enforcement teams assisting with the investigation, only the UK government wishes to retain those funds [it seems that those victims are not the only ones who are greedy].
- Concerning the latter part, I wonder if they would've done the same if it were the other way around (I highly doubt it and that's clearly a double standard).
People within these ages have poor knowledge about how cryptocurrency works. Young people are more attracted and knowledgeable about the crypto space. And many of them are retirees who are living isolated lives, so they are soft targets of crypto scammers.
Good to know that the money has been recovered and that victims can apply for refunds. Since this scam happened between 2014 and 2017, many of these victims might not be alive, considering the age bracket. So it might be another means by which the government will keep these coins.
This is fortunate for governments.
The more fraudulent activity increases, the more government treasuries confiscate cryptocurrencies due to the complexity of the claim and the documentation required to prove eligibility. Also, many people conceal their identities, thus avoiding coming forward to claim their entitlements, which will go directly to the government.
I wonder how this Chinese was able to deceive 128,000 victims so easily and how he managed to evade justice for nearly 11 years? This is truly bizarre!!!
This is a very complex procedure that will take years. First, there will be the confiscation and appraisal of the seized coins and other property. Then there will be a complex process of accepting statements from fraud victims and verifying all documents. Then, lists will be compiled, and the court will decide the amount and value of compensation. I am absolutely certain that the state will not make people millionaires.