A man, after helping a friend invest in futures and suffering losses, actually stole someone else's virtual currency and cashed out over 1.6 million yuan. Recently, the Huli District Procuratorate reviewed and prosecuted this theft case.
In September 2021, defendant Chen met the victim Hong through a friend. At that time, Hong had a strong interest in virtual currency investment, and Chen had some knowledge in this area, so Hong entrusted Chen to help operate the virtual currency investment, providing his account and login password.
In June 2022, Chen incurred losses while helping a friend invest in futures, leading to debt. Chen then conceived the idea of stealing virtual currency from Hong's account.
At the end of September 2022, Chen fabricated a story about account disconnection to deceive Hong into providing various verification codes, then successfully changed the account login password and replaced the linked email with his own. At this point, Hong's account was fully controlled by Chen.
Subsequently, Chen repeatedly deceived Hong into providing real-time verification codes under the pretense of account disconnection, continuously transferring the virtual currency from Hong's account to his own. He then quickly sold these virtual currencies for a profit of over 1.6 million yuan, using all of it to repay personal debts.
In May 2024, Chen voluntarily went to the police station to surrender and truthfully confessed to his crimes.
The Huli District Procuratorate has legally prosecuted Chen for theft. According to Article 264 of the Criminal Law, theft of public or private property, particularly large amounts or with other especially serious circumstances, is punishable by more than ten years of fixed-term imprisonment or life imprisonment, and may also result in fines or confiscation of property.