I have written a superficial article before (I forgot where the link is), mainly lamenting the evil in human nature. The general point is: for thousands of years, regardless of China, Still in foreign countries, almost every society cannot escape the invasion of crimes such as theft, fraud, murder, and arson. This seems to be engraved into the genes of some humans, and will explode when activated. Regardless of whether it is an enlightened monarch, a cruel ruler, or an elected representative of the citizens, the reform of the above crimes ultimately ends in failure.
From the perspective of legal practitioners, virtual currency disposal is actually a relatively niche or segmented field, and this field is greatly affected by policies. (It has a greater impact on New Oriental than the new regulations in the education and training industry); but it is such a subdivided field, many fields that even legal practitioners have never heard of, are now being targeted by scammers, and are also dealing with virtual currencies. Some scams were tailor-made.
"Some criminals and intermediaries claim to have connections to obtain public security authorization to dispose of the virtual currencies involved; they even fake the signature of the person in charge of the public security agency and forge false contracts." and other methods to trick third-party disposal companies or individuals into paying deposits and 'activity funds'" to carry out fraudulent activities.
Chengdu police also specifically reminded: “The virtual currency seized by the public security organs in criminal cases shall be strictly in accordance with the Criminal Procedure Law and relevant case handling procedures, and the investigation shall be terminated. The case was then transferred to the procuratorial organ, and was ultimately judged and dealt with by the People's Court in accordance with the law."
Liu Lu briefly discussed from this "Police Tips":< /p>
1. The current "market" for judicial disposal of virtual currencies is indeed chaotic
The judicial settlement of virtual currency is one of Liu Lu's research areas. Whether it is through articles, videos, live broadcasts, etc., I have done a lot of output. In current criminal cases involving virtual currencies, Chinese judicial authorities require that the virtual currency that should be returned to the victim can be returned in the original currency. In other cases, the virtual currency needs to be converted into legal currency (commonly RMB and US dollars).
Who will do this monetization step? Traditional criminal cases involving the disposal of property must be handled by judicial authorities (mainly courts); however, the disposal of virtual currencies has become very unique. The main reason is that ten ministries and commissions including the "Two High Schools and One Ministry" participated in the announcement in 2021 The "9.24 Notice" ("Notice on Further Preventing and Handling the Risks of Speculation in Virtual Currency Transactions") clearly stipulates that "the exchange business between legal currency and virtual currency, the exchange business between virtual currencies, etc. are illegal financial activities." This This has led to the public prosecutor’s office not daring to take the initiative to conduct exchange activities between virtual currency and legal currency, even if it is to handle a case. In fact, the normal work and business needs of the public security tribunal and the law should be considered as "illegal" reasons for obstruction. But sorry, the "9.24 Notice" has not made any exceptions so far, allowing any agency or individual to conduct the exchange business of virtual currency and legal currency.
But the case still needs to be handled. After all, virtual currency still has property attributes. Is the stolen or defrauded virtual currency worth 499,000 yuan or 50 million, the judicial authority must prove it. Therefore, the judicial authorities did not come forward, but entrusted third-party companies in the market to realize and dispose of virtual currencies. After charging a certain handling fee, these companies will remit the liquidated legal currency to the special fiscal account of the judicial authority, which objectively promotes the handling of criminal cases.
It is also because of this that different judicial authorities entrust different third-party companies, and there is no uniformity at the national or ministry level (such as the establishment of a roster of qualified third-party companies) ), although starting from 2023, provincial governments or provincial public security agencies have successively issued regulations on the disposal of virtual currencies by investigative agencies, but in general these regulations are too general, and it is difficult to carry out the details, especially how to entrust disposal companies. Regulation.
As a result, there are many ways to choose a third-party disposal company. Faced with huge handling fees (the market price is about 20%, the market value of the virtual currency that needs to be disposed of is often hundreds of millions), some people really find it difficult to sit still, and rent-seeking transactions appear.
2. The scammer’s methods are primitive, but effective
Where there is demand, there is supply, no matter how outrageous or strange the demand may be. Someone who can design a scam targeting third-party processors must be someone who has a better understanding of the virtual currency judicial resolution market. If you look closely, the scammer's method is simply old-fashioned. He falsely claims to have public security "relationships" and "resources", and then defrauds the processor into paying "activity funds" and "deposits." In fact, there are many such scams in the field of criminal defense, and some even involve lawyers.
Why can such an old-fashioned scam still deceive third-party processors? After all, they are the ones who often "do business" with the public security organs. But the reality is this, and the evidence is this article from the Chengdu Public Security Bureau.
This also reminds us that as an individual, we must control our desires. If we have no desires, we will be steel, if we have less desires, we will be iron, and if we have all desires, we will be mud. Commercial entities and disposal companies that want to protect themselves must play within the legal and compliant track. Once you go off the rails, the risk is high.
3. How should the judicial handling of virtual currencies be done?
Finally, Liu Lu talked about what the Chengdu Public Security Bureau said about their handling of the virtual currencies involved in the case - according to legal provisions, they were transferred along with the case, and finally Disposed by the court. This statement is definitely unrealistic. The editor may have learned the Criminal Procedure Law well, but he still lacks practical experience.
Most of the current judicial disposals of virtual currencies are completed during the public security investigation stage. For detailed reasons, interested friends can check the public h of the same name of lawyer Liu Zhengyao. Here I will briefly mention a few situations: If in a suspected fraud case, the value of the virtual currency defrauded by the suspect is 3,000 yuan, 100,000 yuan, or even 500,000 yuan, this will not only affect the future sentencing of the court, but also the imminent It’s about whether the standards for filing a criminal case are sufficient, the considerations for obtaining bail, the factors for arrest or not, and even how to write judicial documents (prosecution opinions, indictments, etc.); in addition, the virtual currency market is really a heartbeat (now Bitcoin From 50,000 US dollars per coin to 70,000 US dollars, it only took less than a month). If the criminal case was filed, the market value of the virtual currency defrauded/stolen by the suspect was 3,000 yuan, but it rose to 3,000 yuan when the court ruled. More than 100,000 yuan (completely possible); or conversely, the value is 500,000 yuan when the criminal case is filed, but it is only worth 3,000 yuan when the judgment is reached. At this time, how should the court make a decision?
There are also many other factors, Liu Lu will not go into details one by one. These factors add up to create a situation where virtual currencies are basically the first to be investigated by the investigation agencies. Disposed of.
But does this mean that it is right in practice? Of course not necessarily. The judicial disposal of virtual currencies is not only an area of concern for judicial authorities, including the Public Security Bureau, but also includes banks, central banks, foreign exchange, and even taxation departments. Of course, there are also the main body of this article, the scammers, who are always eyeing the "big cake" of virtual currency disposal and are ready to make a move.
Returning to the topic of this section, how should the judicial handling of virtual currencies be done? Is there any legal and compliant way? In fact, a friend who works in judicial affairs happened to be chatting with me about this topic today. The consensus between us is that this still requires regulators to introduce policies to untie the nooses they set, that is, to untie the bells, the person who tied the bells must also be tied.
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