Shenzhen Court Sentences Man to 12 Years for Digital Collectibles Fraud

According to Foresight News, the Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court has announced a case involving a man named Chen who was sentenced to 12 years in prison and fined RMB 55,000 for fraud related to digital collectibles. In June 2022, Chen registered and established Company A, which developed Platform B for the public sale of a digital collectible without obtaining an ICP certificate or other information service registration. Chen used WeChat public accounts and other channels to promote the limited edition collectibles, claiming that investing in them would guarantee profits. In July 2022, Platform B launched the digital collectible, using promotional tactics such as 'guaranteed principal repurchase' and 'stable appreciation' to deceive customers. Within a month, nearly 30,000 collectibles were sold. Chen then opened a secondary market for trading and manipulated account transactions, hired online trolls to inflate transaction prices, and hyped up market demand to collect funds. During this period, Chen cashed out over RMB 9 million from the platform. Between October and November 2022, Chen stopped renewing the server and shut down the platform, leaving users unable to withdraw funds or view their digital collectibles. The court found that Chen fabricated facts and concealed the truth to defraud others of their property, amounting to a particularly large sum. His actions constituted fraud, and considering factors such as admitting guilt and accepting punishment, he was sentenced to 12 years in prison and fined RMB 55,000. The judgment has taken effect.