A man Pretends to Participate in a Cryptocurrency Airdrop Project to Scam Friend of \$1,757, Sentenced to 7 Months

BlockBeats News, August 13th. In Anshun, Guizhou, a man used the name of a virtual currency "airdrop project" to lure his friend into investing with the promise of high returns and capital preservation, ultimately crossing the legal line. After being publicly prosecuted by the Pingba District Procuratorate of Anshun City, Guizhou Province, the court sentenced Zhao to seven months in prison for fraud and imposed a fine of 5,000 yuan.

Zhao has long been interested in the field of virtual currency investment and has been actively sharing investment experiences and financial management tips on social media platforms. Zhang, also a virtual currency enthusiast, met Zhao on a social platform due to their common interests. They gradually became friends and often discussed investment strategies online. Through their long-term interactions, Zhao, with seemingly professional investment analysis, gained Zhang's trust. Subsequently, Zhao proposed a joint investment, which Zhang agreed to. However, after a period of investment, Zhang suffered significant losses and decided to stop investing further.

On August 23, 2025, Zhao claimed that a certain app launched an "airdrop project" (to promote a new project, incentivize user participation, or reward loyal users by distributing the project's native tokens for free to eligible users) and persuaded Zhang to invest the remaining funds in the account into this project. Zhao promised a return of 100 to 200 U coins (a virtual currency) within two days. Zhao also assured that he would bear any losses that occurred during the investment period. To alleviate Zhang's concerns, Zhao claimed that all investment funds would be transferred to the "mainnet" (a public blockchain address).

Believing Zhao, Zhang converted $1757 in the account to Ether and completed the transfer to the wallet link provided by Zhao. In reality, the wallet linked to the provided address was registered under Zhao's girlfriend's identity, not the "mainnet." The agreed-upon repayment deadline passed, but Zhao did not fulfill the promise. Despite Zhang's repeated requests for repayment, Zhao kept delaying with reasons such as "wrong link transfer" and the need for "time to trace." On September 7th of the same year, Zhang, noticing something was amiss, reported to the police.

On April 2nd of this year, the Pingba District Procuratorate initiated a public prosecution against Zhao for suspected fraud. The procuratorial organ believed that Zhao, by concealing the truth, obtained others' property through deception, with a significant amount involved, constituting the crime of fraud. Considering that Zhao truthfully confessed to the criminal facts upon surrender, showing genuine repentance, fully compensated the victim's losses, and voluntarily pleaded guilty, a lenient punishment is applicable under the law.