Chinese intelligence officers pay bribe in bitcoins to double FBI agent
The spies wanted to steal confidential data about a lawsuit against a telecommunications company based in the PRC

25.10.2022 - 11:50
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What’s new? The US Department of Justice has charged two Chinese intelligence officers with attempting to steal confidential data from a New York court. According to a press release, Guochun He and Zheng Wang tried to steal sensitive information about a case against a PRC-based telecommunications company by bribing a government employee in bitcoins of about $61 000, but he turned out to be a double agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The defendants face up to 60 years in prison, but so far they both remain at large.
The US Department of Justice’s press release
What happened before? In July, a criminal case was opened in Russia against the head of the department of the Drug Control Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Mordovia for taking a bribe in bitcoins. The policeman demanded 2 BTC from one of the suspects in exchange for information about the progress of his case. The officer managed to get only 50 000 Russian rubles and then was arrested by police officers.
Also in March, FBI officers returned nearly $500 000 worth of stolen bitcoins to a pensioner. The man became the victim of phone scammers who introduced themselves as employees of the “office of the chief inspector.” The FBI cooperated with Coinbase, the exchange where the man bought the assets, to trace the transaction and freeze the criminals’ wallet.
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