Hubei Police in China Bust Tether Fraud Case Involving Domestic "Mule" Assistance

May 26th. According to the Hubei Internet Police, in January of this year, Xiao Li (a pseudonym), a resident of Victory Town, encountered "Wang" who claimed to be an active-duty soldier on a certain dating platform. This articulate "army brother" led Xiao Li to an encrypted chat application, citing strict military discipline as the reason. During the daily exchanges full of affection, "Wang" gradually dangled a carrot - claiming to have access to an internal investment channel of a certain financial company and kindly offering to operate on Xiao Li's behalf. Seeing the account screenshot sent by "Wang", with the numbers jumping from 100,000 to 300,000, Xiao Li finally fell for it. Little did she know that this seemingly professional investment platform was actually a virtual program controlled by fraudsters, and the so-called profits were just numbers manipulated at will on the backend. When Xiao Li started to "recharge" on the platform, a more covert criminal chain began to operate. The fraud gang dispatched multiple "couriers" to collect cash offline. These casually dressed cash collectors appeared at the agreed-upon locations like ghosts. After counting the cash, they quickly converted the money into virtual currency, completing a crucial step of laundering the ill-gotten gains. On March 28th, when the final 30,000 yuan was taken away, the "military officer boyfriend" suddenly went out of touch. A panicked Xiao Li reported to the police, only to realize that she had transferred tens of thousands of hard-earned money. After receiving the report, the Criminal Investigation Brigade of the Luotian County Public Security Bureau promptly formed a special task force to launch a "dual-track tracing". Through fund flow analysis and technical investigation, the police found that this criminal gang showed typical characteristics of "overseas command, domestic execution". The so-called "military officer boyfriend" was actually an overseas fraudster, while the "couriers" active in the country were a money laundering gang helping the fraudster transfer funds. According to the suspects' confessions, this gang received instructions through overseas chat applications and engaged in offline transactions with victims after each order. After collecting cash, they purchased USDT (Tether) at a price below the market and transferred it to the "online" wallet to take advantage of the anonymity of virtual currency and evade supervision. To avoid detection, they often wore masks, hats, and even frequently changed transportation methods during cash withdrawals. "These 'couriers' can earn a commission of 3%-5% each time. Driven by greed, they have become accessories to the crime." The investigating police revealed that the police have currently recovered 130,000 yuan of the victims' losses, frozen suspicious funds of 300,000 yuan, and taken criminal coercive measures against 4 suspects according to the law. The case is under further investigation. The police stated that Tether (referred to as "U Coin"), like Bitcoin and Ethereum, is a type of encrypted virtual currency. Due to its transactional anonymity and convenience, it has become the most "preferred" money laundering medium for fraudsters.