[Shandong Police Crack Cross-Provincial Online Extortion Case; Funds Laundered in Cryptocurrency via Payment Platforms] According to Dazhong Daily, Dezhou police in Shandong Province have cracked a cross-provincial online extortion case. The criminal gang impersonated environmental inspectors and journalists, using drones to film and post negative videos of livestock farms, inducing farmers to pay to have the videos removed. The gang collected funds through QR codes and third-party payment platforms, which then settled accounts with the money laundering group in cryptocurrency. Police stated that the gang committed 268 crimes in 22 cities across five provinces (Shandong, Henan, Hebei, Jiangsu, and Anhui) within two months, involving over 800,000 yuan. Currently, 23 people have been arrested, and over 2 million yuan in assets have been seized, confiscated, or frozen.