🇺🇸 Beijing Court in China Discloses "Open Box" Virtual Currency Case, Main Offender Sentenced to 7 Years for Illegally Obtaining Over 900 Million Citizens' Data

On May 9, the Haidian District People's Court in Beijing disclosed a case involving "Open Box" virtual currency, where between 2023 and 2025, defendants Lin Moumou and Wang Moumou illegally obtained citizens' personal data through encrypted communication tools and other internet channels, then sold it for profit using virtual currency payments.
According to investigations, Lin Moumou illegally obtained over 600 million pieces of citizens' personal data, and Wang Moumou illegally obtained over 300 million pieces.
In 2025, Lin Moumou and Wang Moumou, together with Wang Mou (handled in a separate case), set up a "social engineering database" website with the illegally obtained citizens' data.
The database contained over 170 million pieces of citizens' personal information.
The defendants illegally provided citizens' personal data through the website more than 1,300 times, with over 100,000 website visits.
In 2025, defendant Lin Moumou, along with Wang Mou (handled separately), and others, used encrypted communication tools to establish groups, serving as group administrators, and posted illegal content related to privacy violations, insults, and slander.
The group had over 2,000 members.
The Haidian District People's Court in Beijing held that the defendants Lin Moumou and Wang Moumou, in collusion with others, violated relevant national regulations by illegally obtaining and selling citizens' personal information, which was particularly serious, constituting crimes of infringing on citizens' personal information;
Lin Moumou, in collusion with others, established groups for illegal activities and posted illegal content, which was serious, constituting the crime of illegal use of information networks.
Both should be punished accordingly.
Since Lin Moumou committed multiple crimes, he should be sentenced cumulatively.
Based on the facts, circumstances, and consequences of the case, Lin Moumou was sentenced to six years and six months in prison and fined 60,000 RMB for the crime of infringing on citizens' personal information;
He was also sentenced to one year in prison and fined 10,000 RMB for illegal use of information networks, with a total sentence of seven years and a fine of 70,000 RMB.
Wang Moumou was sentenced to five years and six months in prison and fined 50,000 RMB for the crime of infringing on citizens' personal information.