Chinese authorities in Inner Mongolia have arrested 63 people for laundering 12 billion yuan ($1.64 billion), China News reports to report. After an in-depth investigation into the construction company Shi Mouyuan, authorities discovered an international network of online pyramid schemes, fraud, gambling and other forms of crime.
Gigantic amount
At 1.64 billion euros, this is a huge amount. In July 2022, the public security department of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region already issued a warning to the authorities. It found that the funds flowing through Shi Mouyuan’s bank accounts were abnormally large. The gang that has now been busted turned out to be one that used cryptocurrencies to launder domestic and foreign criminal groups to launder money.
As of May 2021, the gang used foreign chat programs to communicate and set up various erroneous initiatives. This includes online pyramid schemes and other forms of fraud and scams. They collected digital currencies, which were then converted into Chinese yuan.
An ingenious network
It is not about a small group of hobbyists who just tried something. In total, this concerns an amount of 1.64 billion euros. Money laundering teams have been set up in various parts of the country and received assignments at certain times. Each location had team leaders, who in turn had to recruit subordinate personnel. At the end of an assignment, the team leaders and everyone else involved had to transfer the amounts. divide.
This criminal group has now been rounded up, but the investigation is still ongoing. A total of 63 suspects have been arrested, but there is a chance that this group will increase. It is clear that this is a gigantic operation. For China, it will be another reason to reject the further adoption of Bitcoin and crypto. Furthermore, it is questionable to what extent Bitcoin really played a major role in this. Chances are that it mainly concerns altcoins and other misery.