Supreme People's Procuratorate discloses fraud case involving 1.2 million yuan in U coins: prosecutor says virtual currency transactions fall outside scope of contract fraud

October 31 — According to the WeChat account of the Supreme People's Procuratorate, a court in Xuzhou, Jiangsu, recently heard a fraud case involving U coins. Wang and others defrauded victim Xiao of 1.2 million yuan in the name of purchasing U coins. The case was initially transferred for review and prosecution on suspicion of the crime of snatching, but the procuratorial organ held that Wang and others carefully set up a trap and, using a fake transaction as bait, substantively defrauded the victim of U coins, which was suspected of fraud, and therefore initiated a public prosecution with the court.

During the trial, the defense argued that the defendants constituted the crime of contract fraud; whether the case is determined to be fraud or contract fraud will result in a clear difference in sentencing. The prosecutor pointed out that the crime of contract fraud is stipulated in criminal law to maintain market order, and the content of a contract must reflect the attributes of the socialist market economy. Virtual currency transactions are illegal financial activities explicitly prohibited by the state and do not fall within the scope regulated by the crime of contract fraud.