China’s Supreme People’s Procuratorate (SPP) is intensifying its efforts to combat cybercrimes, particularly those involving Blockchain and metaverse projects, due to a surge in online fraud and personal information infringement.
Zhang Xiaojin, director of the Fourth Procuratorate of the SPP, has cautioned Chinese citizens about investment scams in the local crypto economy. The SPP observed a significant increase in cybercrimes committed on Blockchains and within the metaverse, as criminals are increasingly using cryptocurrencies for money laundering, which has made it challenging for authorities to trace their illicit wealth.
Ge Xiaoyan, deputy prosecutor-general of the SPP, said there has been a 64 per cent year-on-year rise in cybercrime-related telecom fraud charges. In addition to Blockchain-related crimes, traditional offenses such as gambling, theft, pyramid schemes, and counterfeiting have also expanded into cyberspace.
According to SPP, charges related to internet theft have surged by nearly 23 per cent, while those related to online counterfeiting and sales of inferior goods have spiked by almost 86 per cent. The SPP has also pressed charges against 280,000 individuals in cybercrime cases between January and November 2023, constituting 19 per cent of all criminal offenses.
Blockchain investigator ZachXBT has successfully recovered the majority of the proceeds from a stolen DeGods non-fungible token (NFT) after a nine-month long investigation.
The NFT, which was sold in May 2023 for 99 Ether (approximately $177,000 at the time), was stolen after the original holder fell victim to a phishing scam. ZachXBT, a pseudonymous on-chain researcher, informed his followers in a February 24, 2024 post that he was able to return most of the funds to the victim, thus marking a successful outcome in the case.
ZachXBT’s investigations into crypto crimes often varies in duration based on the complexity of the case. He often uses straightforward diagrams to explain how phishing scams occur and how to track the movement of funds, including through crypto mixers. ZachXBT expressed satisfaction in being able to recover the stolen funds, despite the lengthy process.
ZachXBT has been instrumental in deciphering crypto crimes for individuals and national authorities. In October 2022, French authorities used his research to catch fraudsters behind the $2.5 million theft of NFTs, according to Cointelegraph.com.
The official MicroStrategy X account was hacked, leading to the dissemination of malicious links promoting a fake airdrop for an Ethereum-based $MSTR token. Users who clicked on these links were directed to a counterfeit MicroStrategy webpage, where they were instructed to connect their wallets
to claim the fake airdrop. Subsequently, by accepting a series of permissions in their Web 3.0 wallets, users unwittingly allowed the attackers to drain their wallets of tokens.
The phishing scam orchestrated through MicroStrategy’s compromised account resulted in significant losses, with one victim reportedly losing over $420,000 to the scam.
The total losses incurred from the scam have exceeded $440,000, according to reports from independent Blockchain sleuths and anti-scam platforms. Funds were automatically redirected to the attacker’s wallet, including transfers of various altcoins such as wBAI, CHEX, and wPOKT.
Despite the scam’s success, some within the crypto community pointed out to the obvious nature of the scam, as MicroStrategy, which is known to focus exclusively on Bitcoin, had launched a token on the Ethereum network.
