Three held over $87M Chinese bitcoin crime
CHINESE police have arrested three suspects alleged to have stolen assets worth 600 million yuan ($87 million) through hacking, state media reported on Sunday, as cyber criminals target holders of bitcoin and other virtual currencies.
Police in the northern city of Xian began investigating in March when a victim surnamed Zhang complained that hackers had taken control of his computer to steal 100 million yuan ($15 million) worth of cryptocurrency, the Shaanxi Daily reported.
The 100 million yuan haul was made up of the popular bitcoin and other currencies, state news agency Xinhua reported.
The transfer of the units provided police with a virtual trail, the Shaanxi Daily said, leading them to a suspect surnamed Zhou in the central province of Hunan.
Zhou’s communications led to two more alleged accomplices. Altogether, the three suspects are thought to have stolen 600 million yuan by hacking the computers of individuals and companies, according to the newspaper.
T he pol ice i nvest igat ion i s st i l l under way, it sa id, wit h of f icers i n three provinces working together last week to ta ke the suspects in the case into custody.
I n Febr ua r y a n of f icia l Chi nese publ ic at ion a n nou nc e d pla n s to stamp out a ll remaining cr y ptocurrency trading in the countr y by blocking access to overseas-based websites a nd remov i ng related appl icat ions from app stores.
The moves were outlined in a report by Financial News, a publication under the People’s Bank of China, which said the aim was to snuff out the “dying cinders” of cryptocurrency trading and initial coin offerings “which are glowing once more”.