A major illegal computer control "mining" case was cracked: more than 9,000 downlines were developed and the amount involved exceeded 100 million yuan

Install Trojans on Internet cafe computers to remotely mine

Obtaining digital currency through computer calculations is commonly known as "mining". Recently, the public security organs of Hengyang City, Hunan Province, announced a major case of illegal control of computers for "mining". According to preliminary statistics, the amount involved in the case exceeded 100 million yuan.

At the end of 2018, the Shigu Branch of the Hengyang Public Security Bureau in Hunan received a tip that several local Internet cafes had their computers illegally controlled remotely for "mining."

Liu Hui, deputy captain of the Cyber ​​Security Brigade of Shigu Branch of Hengyang Public Security Bureau : Long-term high-load operation will cause the computer to run very slowly, and in serious cases may even burn out the computer's hardware.

After the police confirmed the clues, they immediately conducted data analysis, locked and extracted the illegal program implanted in the Internet cafe computer. Preliminary investigation found that the developer of this Trojan program was a network technology company in Zhengzhou, and the person in charge of the company was Zhang.

Liu Hui, deputy captain of the Cyber ​​Security Brigade of Shigu Branch of Hengyang Public Security Bureau : On the surface, their company's platform only provides advertising value-added services, but in fact, they also have "mining" businesses. They will privately recommend these businesses to the maintenance personnel of these Internet cafes or Internet cafe maintenance companies.

The police found out that Zhang bribed the network technicians under the guise of business contacts and asked them to implant the "mining" program into the computer host of the Internet cafe they were maintaining when they were maintaining the Internet cafe system, so as to remotely control it. After obtaining the virtual digital currency, it was converted into RMB through a third-party platform.

Between June 2017 and July 2019, Zhang developed more than 9,000 network technicians across the country to serve as his subordinates, paying commissions to 2,000 people on average each month. The commissions paid from January 2018 to May 2019 alone reached 20 million yuan.

Zhu Jianshe, director of the Shigu Branch of the Hengyang Public Security Bureau : This case is unprecedented in terms of its wide scope, the large number of people involved, and the high degree of concealment. It can be said to be a typical high-tech crime.

Police arrested 15 people and froze over 20 million in cash

Based on Zhang's activities and financial situation, the police found that the Zhengzhou Internet company had four shareholders, three of whom were in charge of the company's three departments for daily management, while Zhang lived in Shenzhen for a long time.

After determining the modus operandi and personnel composition of the criminal gang, in July 2019, the task force dispatched more than 200 police officers to Zhengzhou, destroyed the Internet company in Zhengzhou, arrested 15 suspects, seized computers, mobile phones, bank cards, etc., and froze more than 20 million yuan in cash.

Liu Hui, deputy captain of the Cyber ​​Security Brigade of Shigu Branch of Hengyang Public Security Bureau : When the arrest team entered the Zhengzhou company's office, they found that their customer service staff were still contacting network maintenance personnel across the country to promote the "mining" business.

On the morning of July 8, 2019, the main culprit Zhang was arrested in Shenzhen, along with three other people. The police learned through interrogation that at the end of 2016, Zhang found that the virtual currency market was very hot, and since he graduated with a degree in computer science, he reached a consensus with shareholders on "mining" and developed the "mining" program with his team.

By continuously recommending the "mining" business and using commissions as "bait", Zhang's Internet company expanded wildly. By the time the case was discovered, Zhang's company had made hundreds of millions of illegal profits.

Xiao Wen, captain of the Cyber ​​Security Brigade of Shigu Branch of Hengyang Public Security Bureau : This case is very covert. It is not easy to be discovered because it is disguised as a high-tech enterprise and uses the Internet cafe value-added services as a cover to commit crimes. Many Internet cafe owners did not realize that their Internet cafe hosts were illegally controlled until the case happened.

At present, the 18 main suspects in the case have been criminally detained according to law, and the case is still under further trial.

(Editor: Zhang Huibin)