China's Supreme People's Procuratorate discloses a fraud case involving off-exchange USDT trading, prosecutors file public prosecution on fraud charges.

October 31 - According to recent disclosures by the Supreme People's Procuratorate of China, a man surnamed Wang in Xuzhou, Jiangsu, upon learning that USDT trading is illegal in China, used this as a pretext to devise a scheme to defraud others of USDT. Wang had previously purchased USDT from the victim, Xiao, twice using cash, and then gathered several people to plot, under the guise of purchasing USDT again, agreeing to conduct a transaction with 1.2 million yuan in cash.

On the day of the transaction, after inspecting the cash, Xiao transferred the equivalent amount of USDT to the address designated by Wang. Wang and his associates then falsely claimed they had not received the USDT, and while Xiao was checking the transfer records, they threw the travel bag containing 1.2 million yuan in cash out of a second-floor window, where accomplices below picked it up and fled by car, while others blocked Xiao from pursuing.

Procuratorial authorities found that the 1.2 million yuan in cash was always under the control of Wang and his group and was merely used as a prop for fraud, not as the object of seizure, and therefore adjusted the charge from robbery, as initially determined by the public security organ when transferring the case, to fraud, and filed a public prosecution with the court. The defense argued it should be recognized as contract fraud, while the prosecutor held that virtual currency trading is an illegal financial activity explicitly prohibited by the state and does not fall within the scope of contract fraud regulations. The court trial has concluded, and the court will pronounce the verdict at a later date.