According to BlockBeats, on August 15, the Qingdao Evening News reported that the Qingdao police are about to review and prosecute a case involving the use of virtual currency USDT to assist in information network crimes. Nine suspects of related crimes have been arrested and the funds involved exceed 8 million yuan.
In February this year, the Madian Police Station of Jiaozhou Public Security Bureau found that Xue, an online fugitive suspected of fraud, appeared in Jiaozhou. After setting up surveillance, the police arrested Xue on February 24. When the police checked Xue's mobile phone, they found a man who had a "cooperative relationship" with Xue very suspicious.
The chat records show that Xue used his connections to find someone to register a company and open a public account, which he then gave to the man. After investigation, it was found that the names of these accounts basically contained the words "study abroad". The other party also promised Xue that he would pay him.
The police judged that Xue had other cases. The Jiaozhou Public Security Bureau set up a special case team to investigate. After analyzing the transfer records containing the words "study abroad", the police found that someone used the business license to open a public account and then bought "USDT" for money laundering.
After further investigation, it was found that Xue's "partner" was Kuang. On February 26, the police arrested Kuang. After investigation, Kuang truthfully confessed how he and Sun, Sui and others acted as accomplices of criminals.
According to Kuang's confession, he, Sun and Sui did not meet often, and basically communicated through social software. In September last year, his friend Sun contacted him and said there was a business that could make money quickly, and asked if he was interested. After listening to Sun's introduction, Kuang learned that this business of making quick money actually required opening a public account to transfer some illegally obtained funds. Kuang was shaken, but he could not resist the temptation of benefits and finally agreed.
After working for a while, Kuang asked his friends Xue and Sui to join him. According to Kuang, because he needed a large number of public accounts, he asked his friends to help him purchase a large number of business licenses and public accounts obtained with other people's ID cards. Starting in November 2023, Kuang and Sun used the public accounts to collect money. Sun contacted his online account to deposit the money into the account, and Kuang then transferred the money to Sui to buy "USDT". After taking a cut, they returned the illegal funds to their upstream in the form of "USDT".
Based on the clues, the task force quickly tracked down the whereabouts of Sun and Sui. After being arrested, the two confessed their actions. After four months of continued investigation, the public security organs arrested six people including Kuang who were suspected of buying and selling national certificates.
"It's very complicated to run the transaction. We buy USDT according to the "upper party"'s intention and then return it to them." Sun said that according to the agreed commission, he took 6%, Kuang took 5%, and Sui also had a commission. Before being arrested, the three used illegal activities to settle a total of more than 8 million yuan.
Currently, a total of 9 people have been subject to criminal compulsory measures in accordance with the law and will be investigated and prosecuted. The public security organs remind citizens not to lend their ID cards, bank cards, and public accounts with their identity information to others to prevent them from being used for illegal activities.