China Times (www.chinatimes.net.cn) reporter Wang Yongfei ran Xuedong reported in Beijing
In 2021, the achievements in combating money laundering crimes have become one of the key summaries of the Ministry of Public Security, procuratorates, the People's Bank of China, and courts. Money laundering crimes are intertwined with crimes such as corruption, telecommunications fraud, pyramid schemes, fund-raising fraud, drug trafficking, etc., and are the role of the tiger. In the face of the increasingly strict crackdown by various departments on the mainland, the means of money laundering are also constantly updated and iterated, and the amount of money involved in the case is also on the rise. The use of more covert methods such as virtual currencies for money laundering has also become an important area of the current crackdown.
At the national procurator general (expanded) meeting held on January 17, 2022, it was mentioned that in 2021, the procuratorial organs continued to increase the intensity of anti-money laundering work and prosecuted more than 1,200 people for money laundering crimes; on January 14, the Ministry of Public Security also reported that in the special action work of "clean net 2021" carried out by public security organs across the country, in the payment and settlement link, focus on illegal fourth-party payment, running points and other platforms to strengthen the fight against money and blood, especially for the new channel of virtual currency money laundering, keep an eye on changes in the situation, and innovate crackdown strategies. 259 related cases were cracked, and the value of virtual currency was seized for more than 11 billion yuan.
Crack down on new channels such as virtual currency money laundering
In 2021, the mainland carried out multi-departmental joint anti-money laundering operations, and various departments took intensive actions, and "anti-money laundering" also became the top ten criminal prosecution hot words issued by the Supreme People's Procuratorate in 2021. As a new means of money laundering, virtual currency money laundering also brings new challenges to various departments.
Jiang Zhaosheng, a senior researcher at the Ouke Cloud Chain Research Institute, told this reporter that the characteristics of virtual currency decentralization, anonymity, internationality and speed provide great convenience for money laundering activities, coupled with the current regulatory measures on virtual currencies in various countries, and the transaction mode is complex, and the traditional monitoring method is difficult to track, which makes the virtual currency market a high incidence area for money laundering activities.
On 28 October 2021, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) updated the Risk-based Anti-Money Laundering Guidelines for Virtual Assets and Virtual Asset Service Providers, which clearly put forward the risks of money laundering and terrorist financing faced by virtual asset P2P transactions in various countries and countermeasures. The FATF said it pays close attention to virtual assets and virtual asset service providers, especially "stablecoins", P2P, non-homogeneous tokens and decentralized finance, and further interprets or revises fatf standards according to changes in the situation.
Chinese Bank also provided the "Chen Mouzhi Using Virtual Currency Money Laundering Case" to the Financial Action Task Force as a successful case of China's crackdown on money laundering using virtual currency.
In March 2021, the Supreme People's Procuratorate and the Chinese Bank jointly released six typical cases of punishing money laundering crimes. Among them, "Chen Mouzhi's use of virtual currency money laundering case" has attracted attention. Chen Moubo (who is Chen Mouzhi's ex-wife) set up a virtual currency trading platform, issued virtual currency but eventually restricted the withdrawal of coins, the Pudong Branch of the Shanghai Municipal Public Security Bureau filed a case against Chen Moubo for suspected fund-raising fraud, the amount involved was more than 12 million yuan, Chen Moubo absconded abroad.
The vehicle purchased by Chen Mouzhi with illegal funds raised was sold at a low price of more than 900,000 yuan. Subsequently, in the WeChat group set up by Chen Moubo, he contacted the Bitcoin "miners", transferred all the money from the car sale to the "miners" in exchange for the Bitcoin key, and sent the key to Chen Moubo for his overseas exchange. After review, the Shanghai Pudong New Area People's Procuratorate held that Chen Mouzhi helped Chen Moubo transfer funds abroad by means of bank transfers and bitcoin exchanges, constituting the crime of money laundering.
Jiang Zhaosheng introduced that the current use of virtual currency money laundering methods are more diverse, mainly including the direct use of virtual currency money laundering, that is, the purchase of virtual currency with illegal funds, and then through the virtual currency platform for multiple rounds of complex transactions, further conceal the source of illegal funds, and finally convert virtual currency into legal tender or related products and services; in addition, when providing illegal products or services to others, require payment in virtual currency, and then convert virtual currency into legal tender after multiple rounds of transactions on the trading platform, and whitewash the illegal income. For example, illegal gambling, pyramid scheme fraud, etc.
However, Wang Linggang, a senior lawyer at Fangda Law Firm, believes that money laundering through virtual currency and virtual assets is an emerging money laundering method, which is mostly seen in the transfer of cross-border assets. However, compared with traditional money laundering methods, the amount of illegal money is a drop in the ocean. Because they do not understand virtual asset trading, public opinion has exaggerated the role and role of virtual currency and virtual assets in money laundering activities.
Law enforcement governance has gone further
After several years of development, mainland law enforcement departments also have more governance methods for virtual currency money laundering. For example, strengthen the functional integration of regulatory departments, establish a multi-departmental supervision and coordination mechanism for virtual currency; strengthen international cooperation, establish a supervision and coordination mechanism for cross-border money laundering and other illegal and criminal acts, and jointly prevent and combat virtual currency money laundering and other illegal and criminal acts.
In addition, since virtual currency money laundering activities generally have a high technical content, the relevant regulatory departments should establish a cooperation mechanism with domestic blockchain security companies, use cutting-edge technology to chase the funds involved in the case, improve the standardization and intelligence level of anti-money laundering supervision, and strengthen the technical tracking and monitoring of suspicious transactions, so as to better investigate and form threats to money laundering crimes.
For example, Ouke Cloud Chain and other related blockchain enterprises have been deeply engaged in the field of blockchain big data for many years, and have launched products such as on-chain Tianyan pro to assist the public security department in handling and responding to new types of network crimes involving virtual currency, and helping the public security and procuratorial law to achieve one-click evidence adjustment and efficient case handling.
In addition, the mainland still needs to continue to establish and improve the relevant regulatory system, based on the current Anti-Money Laundering Law and the Measures for the Administration of Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing of Payment Institutions, and other laws and regulations, to introduce special virtual currency money laundering regulatory principles and more detailed regulatory provisions.
For ordinary investors, Jiang Zhaosheng stressed that it is necessary to be vigilant against various investment trading products and services in the market under the guise of "blockchain technology" and "virtual currency investment", with high returns and high returns as gimmicks, and do not participate arbitrarily. However, due to the strong concealment and professionalism of virtual currency money laundering, users may passively become accomplices in the use of virtual currency money laundering by criminals without perception. However, if investors perceive some abnormalities in the process of trading, they should promptly report to the regulatory authorities and effectively protect their rights and interests.
Virtual currency money laundering and other network black and gray production in many network crime activities play a key role in "fueling the waves" and "accomplices", at the "net 2021" meeting, the Ministry of Public Security Network Security Bureau second-level inspector Kong Changqing introduced that in recent years, affected by the rapid development of the Internet, the traditional criminal structure in the information flow, technology flow, capital flow convergence and change, the formation of a complex network black and gray production ecosystem. At present, network black ash production can be divided into material supply, technical support, advertising promotion, payment and settlement.
The police reminded that there is a huge "trap" buried behind the network black and gray production, knowing that others are using the information network to commit crimes, but providing them with technical support or assistance has violated the law. The majority of network practitioners must remember to polish their eyes and stay away from the black and gray production of the network, if there is a fluke mentality and desperate risk, they will be punished by law.
![Beijing's first "self-laundering" case was sentenced, and the man was sentenced to 16 years in prison for covering up drug funds[fig]](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAP///wAAACwAAAAAAQABAAACAkQBADs=)