Four Vietnamese arrested in Japan for alleged cryptocurrency account selling

February 19, 2018 | 04:20 am PT
They are accused of having illegally sold the account to a crime group.

Tokyo police arrested four Vietnamese nationals last week over an alleged illegal sale of an account they opened at a Tokyo cryptocurrency exchange, the Japan Times reported last Friday.

The suspects are under investigation of illicitly selling the user ID, password and other information on the account to a third party last July, the Japan Times quoted sources familiar with the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

Their client, who has been identified as a crime group believed to be of Chinese origin, used the account to receive a ¥3 million-worth remittance ($28,000) last year.

The money was converted into bitcoin, some of which was sent to an exchange in China.

“The MPD suspects the account was used to launder criminal funds,” the Japanese newspaper reported from their sources.

Among the four one has admitted involvement in the case.

The recent virtual currency movement, with bitcoins as the world’s most widely used, faces legitimacy issues as it allows for anonymous transactions, posing governments with new national security challenges and presenting transnational criminals and terrorist groups with financial opportunities.

 
 
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