Chinese executive arrested in Japan for opening cryptocurrency account he sold to criminals
Lin Xiaolin is believed to have opened six cryptocurrency accounts in total, police said
Japan police said Tuesday they arrested a Chinese man in Tokyo for allegedly opening a cryptocurrency account that he later sold to a criminal group.
Lin Xiaolin, 30, a corporate executive living in Tokyo, was arrested on March 15 for allegedly opening the account at a virtual currency exchange in Tokyo by accessing its server from China using the name of a Vietnamese individual, they said.
He has denied the allegation.
The police said the account was then immediately sold to the criminal group for about 100,000 yen (US$945).
Lin is believed to have opened six cryptocurrency accounts in total, with at least three then used in illicit transactions, they said.
Tokyo police said the criminal group illegally transferred cryptocurrency taken from a third party to the account. Investigators suspect he sold accounts and other “tools” used by criminal groups.
According to the police, Lin messaged a Vietnamese acquaintance through Facebook and paid 30,000 yen to purchase the personal details, including the name, birthday and other information of another Vietnamese person.
He then used the details to open the cryptocurrency account between July 6 and 9.
Lin’s arrest came after the police arrested four Vietnamese people in February for selling information needed to open a cryptocurrency account to Lin, although prosecutors decided not to indict them last month.
