Chinese officials report the first case of money laundering using digital yuan

The Xinmi police have revealed the first case of illegal money laundering using the central bank digital currency (CBDC). The Anti-Fraud Center of Zhengzhou together with the Public Security Service have detained 11 suspects in the illegal use of digital yuan for money laundering. During the investigation, police officers revealed that the fraudsters worked for a criminal group hiding in Cambodia.

The Xinmi City telecommunications network was used to commit the crime involving CBDC. Fraud victims received phone calls about their online purchases. The criminals told them about the problems with the quality of the goods and offered the compensation at three times the price of the product. To receive it, the victims had to make a transfer in digital yuan to the wallet specified by the fraudsters.

According to Chinese CBDC experts, the main function of the digital yuan is to prevent cases of money laundering, tax evasion, terrorist financing, and other illegal activities.

The inability of the digital yuan to abolish these crimes caused serious concern to the authorities. Now the Chinese government is testing the digital yuan in order to launch it by the upcoming Winter Olympic Games. Earlier, the American experts gave an opinion on the situation with Chinese payment applications.