The police in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China, have launched a campaign that they hope will help wipe out crypto scams.
Per the Legal Daily, the police are concerned that “illegal fund-raising, online pyramid schemes and other cases of economic fraud” are on the rise in the region. The police added that crypto-related fraud and illegal loan services were on the rise and could end in “disastrous” results for those who fall for them.
The police have sought to fight back with a large-scale public awareness campaign in Ürümqi, the regions capital and largest city, held over the weekend. Officers took to the streets to hand out flyers, brochures, and other promotional materials to citizens. The material, police said, was created in an effort to help residents in the region to learn how to spot pyramids or crypto scams, as well as other online fraud.
Illegal multi-level marketing (MLM) schemes have experienced a boom in popularity of late in China – with many taking a distinctly crypto and blockchain flavor this year, as crypto prices have risen and even Chinese companies have cautiously moved into the crypto space.
A huge glut of bogus digital yuan scams have also appeared throughout the nation – including in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region – as government pilots continue to roll out.
The regions police stated that it had responded last year by stepping up its response to economic fraud, claiming that it had yielded “extremely” good results so far from its “crackdown” efforts.
And the police said that it had teamed up with the region‘s branches of the financial regulator and the central People’s Bank of China, in addition to the banking, markets, and securities regulators. The local tax body and “other relevant administrative supervision departments and financial institutions” were also quoted as being on board.
In addition to the Ürümqi event, smaller events were carried out in other cities around the region, accompanied by promotional videos, social media campaigns, and press conferences. Officers sought to explain how criminals target victims, give advice on how to avoid scammers – and hint at the heavy punishments would-be offenders could expect to receive if snared by the authorities.