BlockBeats News, November 27th, according to the Changsha Evening News report, the People’s Procuratorate of Yuhua District, Changsha City, Hunan Province, China, disclosed a case of “Foreigner Romance Scam,” and ultimately, all 11 defendants were convicted. The “Foreigner Romance Scam” evolved from the traditional “Pig Slaughtering Scam” and refers to a fraud targeting foreigners through “chat and friendship.” The fraudsters used stolen images and meticulously crafted personas to engage in emotional fraud under the guise of “Foreigner Romance Scam,” luring the targets from public platforms to private messaging apps. After building trust and emotional connection, they induced the victims to invest in cryptocurrency on a fake platform. Initially, the victims were encouraged to increase their investment through small withdrawals as returns. Once a large sum was invested, the withdrawal function was disabled, and the fraudsters completed the “harvest.” The group accumulated approximately 340,000 RMB through this scheme.
The prosecutors and investigators attempted to collaborate to identify the “mastermind” behind the fake virtual platform’s control of cryptocurrency price fluctuations by analyzing the platform’s backend logs. They also extracted scripted templates from the fraudsters’ computers and reconstructed the entire scam process from initial conversation, emotional bonding, to investment inducement from a vast amount of chat records. Furthermore, by analyzing the cryptocurrency wallet addresses and internal performance reports, they were able to clearly outline the fund flows and members’ roles. After review, the Yuhua District Procuratorate found that the 11 defendants, including Liu and Li, used telecommunications technology to defraud others of a large sum of money. The facts of the crime were clear, the evidence was reliable and sufficient, and they should be held criminally responsible for fraud. Following a court trial, all 11 defendants were found guilty and convicted.
