Beijing Haidian Court Discloses Case Involving Virtual Currency Payments in 'Unboxing' Scheme

Foresight News reports that the Beijing Haidian Court has disclosed a case involving virtual currency payments in an 'unboxing' scheme. Between 2023 and 2025, defendants Lin XX and Wang XX illegally obtained citizens' personal information data through encrypted communication tools and other internet channels, later selling the data for profit via virtual currency payments and other methods. Lin XX illegally obtained over 600 million pieces of citizens' personal information data, while Wang XX illegally obtained over 300 million pieces. In 2025, Lin XX and Wang XX, together with Wang X (handled in a separate case), used the illegally obtained citizens' personal information data to build a 'social engineering database' website. The website's database contained over 170 million pieces of citizens' personal information. The defendants illegally provided citizens' personal information through the website more than 1,300 times, with the website receiving over 100,000 visits. The court sentenced defendant Lin XX to six years and six months in prison for the crime of infringing upon citizens' personal information and imposed a fine of RMB 60,000. For the crime of illegally utilizing information networks, Lin XX was sentenced to one year in prison and fined RMB 10,000, with a combined sentence of seven years in prison and a total fine of RMB 70,000. Defendant Wang XX was sentenced to five years and six months in prison for the crime of infringing upon citizens' personal information and fined RMB 50,000.