BlockBeats News, October 31: According to recent information disclosed by China’s Supreme People’s Procuratorate, a man surnamed Wang from Xuzhou, Jiangsu, learned that USDT trading was illegal in China and used this as an excuse to hatch a scheme to defraud others of USDT. Wang had previously bought USDT from a victim surnamed Xiao twice using cash. He later conspired with several others and, under the pretext of buying USDT again, arranged a transaction involving 1.2 million yuan in cash.

On the day of the transaction, after checking the cash, Xiao transferred an equivalent amount of USDT to an address specified by Wang. Wang and the others then falsely claimed they had not received the USDT. While Xiao was checking the transfer records, they threw a travel bag containing 1.2 million yuan in cash out of a second-floor window. An accomplice waiting downstairs picked it up and drove away, while the others tried to stop Xiao from chasing them.

The procuratorate’s review found that the 1.2 million yuan in cash had remained under the control of Wang and the others throughout and was used only as a prop in the fraud, not as the object of a snatching offense. It therefore reclassified the case from the crime of snatching, as initially determined when it was transferred by the public security authorities, to fraud, and filed a public prosecution with the court. The defense argued that the offense should be classified as contract fraud. The prosecutor, however, argued that virtual currency trading is an illegal financial activity expressly prohibited by the state and does not fall within the scope of contract fraud. The trial has concluded, and the court will announce its verdict at a later date.