Police in China detention team laundering $1.7 billion through crypto even after Beijing's crackdown

December 14, 2022: -In China, Police charged 63 people accused of laundering nearly 12 billion Chinese yuan through cryptocurrency during Beijing’s crackdown on the trading of digital coins.

Beginning in May 2021, the criminal gang used the proceeds from illicit sources allegedly, which include pyramid schemes, fraud and gambling and transferred it into the cryptocurrency tether, a stablecoin that is pegged every one with the U.S. dollar, the Public Security Bureau Tongliao city of China, said in a statement more than the weekend.

The gang is said to have used a few cryptocurrency trading accounts to convert the money into Chinese yuan.

The officer stated that they used the messaging service Telegram, banned in China, to recruit people all over the country who would open crypto accounts, helping to launder the funds. Those people would get a commission according to the money they laundered, the police stated.

The authorities said over 130 million Chinese yuan worth of proceeds was taken out from the gang.

The case highlights that even after Beijing attempts to wipe out cryptocurrency-related activities, which include trading and mining, there is still a large amount of digital money activity.

Chinese users have typically converted to overseas-based exchanges to trade cryptocurrencies, but this was harder as the crackdown from authorities intensified in the previous year.

The Public Security Bureau was alert when they noticed that one of the supposed had a transaction volume of 10 million yuan in the bank account. The police did not state what this involved. The authorities said two suspects had escaped to Bangkok in Thailand but were persuaded to return to China.

Last year, Chinese police arrested over 1,100 supposed of laundering money via cryptocurrencies.