After investing more than 200,000 yuan in virtual currency, the platform can no longer be opened

In March this year, Xiao Geng invested more than 200,000 yuan in a virtual currency after being introduced by someone else. But at the end of April, the investment platform suddenly stopped opening and the money invested could not be withdrawn. Xiao Geng felt something was wrong and called the police immediately.

In March this year, Xiao Geng met a woman named Qin. After several contacts, their relationship became closer and closer. The woman named Qin began to invite Xiao Geng to make money with her.

Xiao Geng said that the woman said that she didn't have to work and that she could earn income every day by investing. Later, she repeatedly asked her to go to the Rose Bay Life Center to study. After being brainwashed every day, she lost her cognition.

After attending classes for a month, in April, Xiao Geng, under the introduction of Ms. Qin, found a woman named Wei and began to invest a small amount of this virtual currency without signing a contract. After transferring the money to Ms. Wei, Xiao Geng could see the income of his investment on the APP. However, the rule of this investment is that if you want to withdraw cash, the output of the currency must exceed 1,000, and a 20% handling fee will be charged. It didn't take long for Xiao Geng to be persuaded that if he wanted to make more money, he had to invest more. Under their instigation, Xiao Geng lost his mind and went to take out a loan.

In the end, after taking out loans and using credit cards, Xiao Geng invested more than 200,000 yuan and bought more than 40,000 virtual coins. On April 27, Xiao Geng withdrew more than 6,000 yuan from the platform for the first time. But a few days later, the investment platform had problems.

"Now it can't be opened. It says that the user system is being upgraded, and I can't see anything after opening it." Xiao Geng said.

In a hurry, Xiao Geng contacted the introducer by phone and found the place where he took the class. The other party said that he just needed to wait for the system to work. During the waiting period, Xiao Geng also searched the Internet for relevant information about this virtual currency. He became more and more suspicious that he had been cheated, so he hurriedly reported the case to the local police station. At noon on July 12, the reporter found the place where Xiao Geng took the class in the Rose Bay community. Although the door was open, the woman inside said she was unaware of it.

Afterwards, the reporter contacted Ms. Wei, who was responsible for collecting the money, and she also said she didn't know about this.

Lawyer's interpretation of the law

Regarding Xiao Geng's current situation, Fu Chuanyun, a lawyer at Beijing Anli (Kunming) Law Firm, said that first of all, it must be made clear that the virtual currency mentioned in the news does not have the legal status of legal tender in our country. The main view in current judicial practice tends to determine that virtual currency investment, payment and other transactions are invalid and not protected by law, but it does not deny that virtual currency itself has the attributes of virtual property.

Secondly, the app platform in the news fabricated the fact of high returns on virtual currency investment on the telecommunications network platform and concealed the truth. After Xiao Geng invested more than 200,000 yuan, he was unable to log in to the platform and could not return the money later. If the relevant personnel intended to illegally possess the money, their behavior may have been suspected of fraud, and several introducers may also constitute joint crimes of fraud based on whether they were subjectively aware of it and whether they actually participated. Xiao Geng can report the above behavior to the public security organs, and once it constitutes a corresponding crime, the stolen money can be recovered and returned.

Finally, in recent years, various types of Internet financial investments have developed rapidly. The convenience of online investment has allowed criminals to seize the opportunity to build virtual trading platforms and carefully package their identities to induce victims to invest. Investors are reminded not to click on links or scan codes to download unknown apps at will. Any promotion of investment in digital currency, lottery, foreign exchange, etc. that guarantees a guaranteed profit is a scam. At the same time, we remind the majority of netizens that the Internet is not a lawless place and they should consciously abide by Internet laws and regulations to jointly create a good Internet environment.