35 million yuan for a 10-year prison sentence—these people have a truly low cost for tarnishing Web3’s reputation

The Taizhou Cyber Police in Zhejiang reported a scam case that used the Metaverse and virtual coins as a cover. The gang claimed to be promoting face recognition payment devices; after drawing in targets, it lured investors into buying “air coins” that the group itself issued. It then continued to extract funds by using measures such as locking assets, controlling prices, and exchanging currencies. The case involved more than 130 investors and an amount of about 35 million yuan. The court found the offenders’ criminal purpose to be clear and the amount involved to be especially huge, sentencing the defendants to 10 years of fixed-term imprisonment and imposing a fine of 200,000 yuan.