According to CoinDesk news on April 27, as reported by the web3 Radar public account, on April 18, anti-fraud police learned that a local resident was being defrauded, intending to deliver 98,000 yuan in cash to the scammers through 'offline cash delivery.' The anti-fraud center quickly activated the police-bank linkage mechanism, issuing emergency alerts to the whole city to look for potential victims. Ultimately, with active participation from various sectors of society, criminal investigation police promptly located the victim and successfully intercepted the defrauded funds of 98,000 yuan. The investigation revealed that the victim, Mr. Wang, fell victim to a refund scam, initially making small orders and earning 300 yuan before being lured into increasing the order amount with a '50% high return' bait. When Mr. Wang received the order to pay 98,000 yuan, the scammers claimed that due to the large order amount, 'online payment was restricted,' and opted for offline cash transactions. They instructed Mr. Wang to pack the cash, take a photo, and deliver it to a designated location.
After intercepting the defrauded funds, Fugu police criminal investigation officers did not immediately close in but instead developed and implemented a 'counter-routine' plan to completely expose the behind-the-scenes 'withdrawers.' Through diligent investigation, they ultimately locked onto the target suspect's trajectory, capturing 2 'cash takers' and 2 'U merchant' suspects in Yuyang District on April 19, 20, and 21 respectively, seizing 9 mobile phones used in the crime, 6 SIM cards, 22 bank cards, and 1 drone.
During the interrogation, suspect Sun clicked on a 'high salary recruitment' ad on a short video platform in March. Soon, someone messaged him privately, claiming to have a good money-making project and asked if he was willing to do business together, with no entry barriers and high rewards. He only needed to maintain online contact, follow the other party's instructions, and retrieve cash from 'clients' (actually victims) according to specific scripts, later transferring the cash to designated 'U merchants' for trading, earning 300 to 500 yuan per transaction. Excited by this, Sun thought he was just running errands for a small fee and that it would not be his problem if anything went wrong. He then contacted his childhood friend Hou to join this 'business' (actually an offline cash withdrawal operation). Following the other party's guidance, Sun purchased an overseas Apple ID online and downloaded the 'Paper Plane' app. After training from the other party, he began taking orders for cash withdrawal and searching for 'U merchants' for cash transactions. Between March 23 and April 18, Sun and Hou successively scouted locations in Xi'an, Kunming, Putian, and Yulin, taking on 7 cash withdrawal assignments through the 'Paper Plane' app, involving an amount of 398,000 yuan, and illegally profiting 1,400 yuan. After receiving orders, they used drones to track and directed victims to deliver cash to remote areas without surveillance or frequently changed transaction addresses, confirming the victims left the cash in designated locations before retrieving it for 'U merchant' transactions. On April 19, Sun and Hou committed a cash withdrawal crime on a hillside in a village in Yulin City, where Sun was captured on the spot by waiting police, and Hou was arrested on April 21.
During the case investigation, police uncovered two 'cash U merchants' who helped scammers launder money through virtual currency by diving deep into the black industry chain. With strong support from the city's anti-fraud center, they gradually clarified the organizational structure, division of labor, and methods of operation of this criminal group. On April 20, with close cooperation between municipal and county levels, they successfully captured suspects Gao and Cao in Yuyang District. During the interrogation, suspects Gao and Cao admitted that they were aware that the cash entrusted to them was of illegal origin, yet they still assisted the telecom network fraud gang in transferring fraud-related funds. They collected the victim's defrauded cash offline through 'cash takers,' converted it into USDT (Tether) at real-time exchange rates, and then transferred it to overseas accounts, forming a 'funds disconnection' to evade police tracking, thus completing the money laundering activities. The two confessed to committing the 'cash transaction with U currency' crime four times, illegally profiting 12,700 yuan. On April 18, anti-fraud police learned that a local resident was being defrauded, intending to deliver 98,000 yuan in cash to the scammers through 'offline cash delivery.' The anti-fraud center quickly activated the police-bank linkage mechanism, issuing emergency alerts to the whole city to look for potential victims. Ultimately, with active participation from various sectors of society, criminal investigation police promptly located the victim and successfully intercepted the defrauded funds of 98,000 yuan. The investigation revealed that the victim, Mr. Wang, fell victim to a refund scam, initially making small orders and earning 300 yuan before being lured into increasing the order amount with a '50% high return' bait. When Mr. Wang received the order to pay 98,000 yuan, the scammers claimed that due to the large order amount, 'online payment was restricted,' and opted for offline cash transactions. They instructed Mr. Wang to pack the cash, take a photo, and deliver it to a designated location.
Currently, suspects Sun, Hou, Gao, and Cao are being subjected to criminal coercive measures by the Fugu County Public Security Bureau for suspected concealment and hiding of criminal proceeds, and the case is under further investigation.
