Be careful when participating in USDT running and suspected of aiding and concealing crimes

Recently, USDT has become famous among stablecoins. Its storage function and high liquidity are deeply loved by users, and even retail investors are rushing to enter the market. However, some people use USDT as a cybercrime tool to obtain illegal gains. Last year, the police in Huizhou City, Guangdong Province cracked the first case of "money laundering" using USDT digital currency to run points, and severely cracked down on criminals who used USDT to run points. However, many citizens still ignore the law, rent out their accounts, help others transfer money, and collect commissions, but they don’t know that they may be suspected of assisting information network criminal activities and concealing criminal proceeds. Criminal risks such as the crime of concealing criminal proceeds.

This article analyzes the basic facts of the case involving the use of USDT for points online in judicial documents, summarizes the characteristics of the USDT points crime, and finally explains the criminal risks involved in the USDT points behavior: the crime of assisting information network criminal activities and the crime of concealing and hiding the proceeds of crime, to help the public regulate their own behavior.

Overview of USDT scam crimes

The author searched the Judgment Documents Network with the keywords "USDT" and "running points" and found a total of 4 related cases. The cases can be roughly divided into the following categories:

① The defendant joined the "USDT" virtual currency group through the Tudou chat software. The gang mainly laundered money for overseas online gambling. The defendant's main task was to settle the daily turnover of money laundering by other gang members, deduct his own income, and give the remaining money to the gang members (Hu Difeng's first-instance criminal judgment for the crime of assisting information network criminal activities (2021) Ji 0125 Xingchu No. 32);

② The defendant added a QQ group friend (Chen) to make illegal profits, and learned that he needed to pay a deposit first to do the USDT running business. After paying the deposit, the other party transferred the money to the bank account provided by him. After receiving the money transferred by the other party, he used the money to buy USDT coins on Huobi.com with his own account, and then transferred the purchased USDT coins to the Huobi.com wallet designated by the other party to complete the "acceptance business". The commission was 3% of the money for helping to pay the settlement. The defendant used a total of 6 bank accounts and 1 Alipay account (all secondary cards) to help the online line provide 14 payment and settlement services, making a total illegal profit of 30,000 yuan and helping to pay a settlement amount of 1,001,500 yuan (Ren Defu's first-instance criminal judgment for assisting information network crimes (2021) Gan 0822 Xingchu No. 32);

③ The defendant Wen, together with Zhu (handled in another case), the defendant Guo and Chang, used mobile phones to use the "Huobi", "OKEX", "KuCoin" and "Bitcoin" software, and repeatedly used Alipay accounts opened by themselves and multiple other people, and Zhejiang MyBank cards as payment settlement tools to buy and sell virtual currency to run points. A total of 9,314,436.03 yuan was credited (income) and a total of 9,314,159.13 yuan was paid out (expenditure) (Wen and Guo concealed and concealed the proceeds of crime and the proceeds of crime. Criminal judgment of the first instance (2020) Yu 1628 Xingchu No. 553);

④ The defendant accepted orders and ran points in the "Telegram" chat software, borrowed other people's bank card information, Alipay and Huobi accounts to illegally provide funding channels for overseas gambling websites or telecommunications fraud gangs, and then transferred such funds through Huobi in the form of purchasing USDT (Tether) and obtained commissions at 1.5% of the transferred funds. The defendant lent and used his own bank card and Alipay account to transfer illegal funds of 799,568 yuan to others in the form of running points, and borrowed other people's bank cards and Alipay accounts to transfer illegal funds of 398,441 yuan and 545,021 yuan respectively to others in the form of running points, and illegally obtained more than 10,000 yuan in commissions (Criminal Judgment of Liu Fengfu for Assisting Information Network Crimes of the First Instance (2020) Yu 0191 Xingchu No. 1128).

Based on the above case, we can summarize the criminal behavior of using USDT to run points, that is, recruiting agents and forming teams through chat software, using members' collection accounts to provide receiving, circulation, and whitewashing services for overseas online gambling websites and financial investment fraud platforms, and using overseas chat software to evade police crackdowns.

The criminal behavior of using USDT to run points can be divided into three stages:

1. Platform building stage: Upstream criminals illegally build payment management backends on the Internet, use USDT currency for settlement, and provide payment channel services for overseas gambling websites and other platforms;

2. Promotion and operation stage: Criminals post advertisements on forums, Tieba, QQ groups and other online social networking sites to find overseas online gambling, fraud and other criminal gangs that have illegal fund settlement needs, and at the same time recruit more people to become runners;

3. The stage of attracting runners: After paying a certain amount of deposit to the platform, the runners can receive orders on the platform. After receiving the order, the platform directly deducts the equal amount of deposit purchased by the runners before, and provides the corresponding USDT recharge code to the gamblers. The gamblers recharge the equal amount of USDT coins to the runners' accounts through Alipay or bank cards.

In layman's terms, USDT runners use their own WeChat or Alipay QR codes to collect payments on behalf of others and earn commissions from it, but they are unaware that they are themselves suspected of criminal risks.

Criminal risks of USDT running

If the participants in the scoring operation do not have prior collusion with the upstream criminals, they will be suspected of assisting in information network criminal activities and concealing and hiding the proceeds of crime, otherwise they will become accomplices of the upstream crime.

1. Legal provisions on the crime of assisting information network criminal activities and the crime of concealing criminal proceeds

Crime of assisting information network criminal activities

This crime, referred to as "assisting others with information fraud," was written into the Criminal Code in 2015. The legislature included this crime in the "crime of disturbing public order" in order to combat cybercrime and help form an orderly social public order. This crime is stipulated in Article 287-2 of the Criminal Law: "If someone knowingly uses information networks to commit crimes and provides them with technical support such as Internet access, server hosting, network storage, and communication transmission, or provides advertising promotion, payment settlement, etc., and the circumstances are serious, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years or criminal detention, and shall be fined or fined alone."

Concealing or hiding the proceeds of crime

This crime is mainly stipulated in the "crime of obstructing public service" and is the state's regulation of criminal acts that affect the handling of cases by public security, procuratorial and judicial organs. This crime is stipulated in Article 312 of the Criminal Law: "Whoever knowingly conceals, transfers, purchases, sells on behalf of others, or conceals or conceals by other means the proceeds of crime and the proceeds generated by them shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years, criminal detention or public surveillance, and shall be fined or fined alone; if the circumstances are serious, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than seven years and shall be fined."

2. The connection and difference between the elements of the two crimes

The connection between the two crimes

Both the crime of assisting information network criminal activities and the crime of concealing and hiding the proceeds of crime have upstream crimes, and both are acts of assisting upstream criminals in handling stolen money and stolen goods. However, the upstream crime of assisting information network criminal activities is generally a cyber crime, while the upstream crime of concealing and hiding the proceeds of crime is of a wider variety of types. In addition, the subjective degree of both crimes does not require the perpetrator to know the specific type of the upstream crime.

The difference between the two crimes

Comparing the two crimes from the perspective of crime elements, there are significant differences in the harmful behavior (illegality), the object of the behavior (illegality), and intent (culpability). There are also differences in sentencing.

A. Endangered behavior: The crime of assisting information network criminal activities occurs after the upstream criminal behavior is implemented but before the behavior is completed, that is, before the upstream criminal has obtained the stolen money and stolen goods. The crime of concealing and hiding criminal activities often occurs after the upstream crime has been completed, and the proceeds of the crime are controlled by the upstream criminals. It should be noted that the division of labor among the participants of USDT running is different, and the crimes that constitute the crimes objectively are different. If the role of the running participants in the running process is to collect the stolen money, it meets the elements of the crime of assisting information network criminal activities; but if the role of the running participants in the running process is to transfer the stolen money, it meets the elements of the crime of concealing and hiding criminal activities.

B Object of behavior: The object of the crime of assisting information network criminal activities is the act of providing payment and settlement services for upstream crimes; the object of the crime of concealing and concealing criminal activities is mainly the illegal proceeds of upstream crimes, that is, stolen money and stolen goods.

C Intentional. The crime of aiding information network criminal activities does not require the perpetrator to be subjectively aware that he is transferring or collecting stolen money. If he is aware that he plays a role in collecting stolen money in the running activities, he will be guilty of aiding information network criminal activities; if he is aware that he plays a role in transferring stolen money in the running activities, he will be guilty of concealing and hiding the proceeds of crime. Here we should pay attention to the situation where there is an abstract factual misunderstanding in specific cases. For example, when the perpetrator is subjectively aware that he is engaged in the act of collecting stolen money, but actually engages in the act of transferring stolen money, then the perpetrator will bear the penalty for aiding information network criminal activities.

D. Sentencing. The maximum sentence for the crime of assisting in information network criminal activities is 3 years in prison. When there is a conflict with other crimes, the more serious crime will be punished; the maximum sentence for the crime of concealing and hiding the proceeds of crime is 7 years in prison. There is a difference in sentencing between the two.

The USDT running activity involves a wide range of participants, even some college students have participated in it. We say that a gentleman loves money and gets it in a proper way. At any time, do not take shortcuts to make money for quick success and take the road of crime, because then it will be too late.