A man Pretends to Participate in a Cryptocurrency Airdrop Project to Scam Friend of \$1,757, Sentenced to 7 Months
August 13th. In Anshun, Guizhou, a man used the name of a virtual currency "airdrop project" to lure friends to invest with the promise of high returns, ultimately crossing the legal line. After the Procuratorate of Pingba District, Anshun City, Guizhou Province filed a public prosecution, the court sentenced Zhao to seven months in prison for fraud and imposed a fine of 5,000 yuan.
Zhao has been paying attention to the virtual currency investment field for a long time and has been posting investment experience and financial management skills on social media platforms. Zhang is also a virtual currency enthusiast. The two met on a social platform due to their common interest, became friends, and often exchanged investment strategies online. Over time, Zhao, seemingly with professional investment analysis, gradually gained Zhang's trust. Subsequently, Zhao proposed a joint investment, which Zhang agreed to. However, after a period of investment, Zhang suffered heavy losses and decided to stop investing.
On August 23, 2025, Zhao claimed that a certain app launched an "airdrop project" (to promote a new project, incentivize user participation, or reward loyal users by distributing the project's native tokens for free to eligible users), persuading Zhang to invest the remaining funds in the project, promising a return of 100 to 200 U coins (a virtual currency) within two days. Zhao also guaranteed that he would bear any losses incurred during this period. To further allay Zhang's concerns, Zhao claimed that all investment funds would be transferred to the "public chain" (a public address of a cryptocurrency).
Believing Zhao, Zhang exchanged $1757 in his account for Ether and completed the transfer to the wallet link provided by Zhao. In reality, the link corresponded to a wallet registered by Zhao using his girlfriend's identity information, not the "public chain." The agreed repayment time passed, but Zhao did not fulfill his promise. Despite Zhang's repeated requests for repayment, Zhao procrastinated with reasons such as "wrong link transfer" and the need for time to trace. On September 7 of the same year, Zhang, noticing the anomaly, reported to the police.
On April 2nd this year, the Pingba District Procuratorate filed a public prosecution against Zhao for alleged fraud. The procuratorial organ believes that Zhao deceived others' property by concealing the truth through large amounts of money, constituting the crime of fraud. Given that Zhao truthfully confessed to the criminal facts upon surrendering and voluntarily reimbursed the victim's losses in full while pleading guilty, a lenient punishment can be imposed according to law.