China digital currency: police make arrest over alleged US$47,000 e-yuan scam

Name: Is cryptocurrency too risky for China?
Uploaded: 2021-11-17T07:30:15.000Z
Duration: 6 min 54 s
Description: Is cryptocurrency too risky for China?

The suspect impersonated police to obtain the victim’s personal information including ID number, bank account details and a photo of her face

Though still in trials, China’s digital yuan has been used by some 140 million individuals, as banks roll out rounds of promotions and discounts

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A sign indicating digital yuan, also referred to as e-CNY, is accepted at a shopping mall in Shanghai. Photo: Reuters

Bloomberg

Published: 3:30pm, 17 Nov 2021

Police in China arrested a suspect for allegedly scamming over 300,000 yuan (US$47,000) from a woman using the central bank’s new digital currency.

The suspect called the victim earlier this month and impersonated police to obtain her personal information including ID number, bank account details and a photo of her face, Chinese media Thepaper.cn reported on Tuesday.

The suspect then registered a digital yuan e-wallet for the victim and transferred the money from her bank account, before transferring it again to the suspect’s own e-wallet, according to the report.

Police traced the transaction and identified the suspect as the owner of the receiving e-wallet. The suspect, surnamed Li, was arrested and has admitted that he was also involved in money laundering through the digital yuan for overseas scammers, according to the report.

06:54

Is cryptocurrency too risky for China?

Though still in trials, China’s digital yuan has been used by some 140 million individuals, as banks roll out rounds of promotions and discounts to lure consumers.

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