Order without shipping? The involved amount exceeds 10 million yuan! Uncover the black profit chain of the pirated website!

(Source: Anti-Fraud Classroom)

Selling virtual goods through online shopping platforms without actually shipping them, while also charging exorbitant “service fees”—this appears to be a typical online transaction, but in reality it is an illegal scheme to launder profits. Even more shocking is that behind this covert money-laundering operation is a major network piracy “black link” case involving an amount of over tens of millions of yuan.

On March 5, the Jiujiang City Yongxiu County Public Security Bureau in Jiangxi Province closed a series of major cases involving online infringement of copyright. The final defendant, Wang, pleaded guilty in court and was sentenced in accordance with the law. By then, the entire criminal chain of online piracy—amounting to more than tens of millions of yuan and spanning across domestic and overseas jurisdictions—had been completely severed. After the investigation and case-solving, public security authorities repeatedly received many letters of thanks from well-known internet information service enterprises.

疑点浮现：虚假交易牵出盗版疑云
疑点 emerge: Fake transactions bring piracy suspicions to light

“This transaction record is suspicious!” In July 2024, during online patrols, officers from the Huanshi Food and Drug Safety, Environmental Science and Pharmacy Investigation Brigade of the Yongxiu County Public Security Bureau found abnormal transaction records within their jurisdiction: a certain online shopping platform account carried out transactions under the guise of “idle parts” and “document storage,” totaling more than 80k yuan, yet with no real logistics information of any kind.

In normal online transactions, regardless of the amount involved, there will be a complete process such as placing an order, shipping, and logistics acceptance, but this account only received funds without shipping and had no real flow of logistics—clearly violating normal business logic. Combined with the typical “laundering of virtual goods” modus operandi commonly used in network piracy and illegal website cases, the officers keenly judged that there was likely someone providing technical support behind the account for illegal piracy websites, or that it was suspected of helping with information network criminal activities, infringement of copyright, and other multiple criminal links.

Given that such online criminal activity sites are not fixed, evidence is easy to be destroyed, personnel are highly concealed, and the cases feature industrialized and chain-like characteristics, the Yongxiu County Public Security Bureau immediately reassigned key personnel from the Huanshi Food and Drug Safety, Environmental Science and Pharmacy Investigation section, the Cyber Security division, and the Criminal Investigation division to form a special task force. Under the guidance of the Huanshi Food and Drug Safety, Environmental Science and Pharmacy Investigation Team of the Jiangxi Provincial Public Security Department, the task force, together with public security authorities at both municipal and county levels, launched a full-chain, cross-regional, multi-department coordinated mechanism. They established an investigative approach of “trace online origins, conduct on-site investigations, and precisely identify targets,” and formally began the investigation into the piracy “black link.”

精准突破：抓住“命门”锁定核心嫌犯
Precise breakthrough: Grab the “weak link” to lock onto the core suspect

“The person providing the technical support behind it is the ‘weak link’ for the piracy chain to run. If we catch this part, we can achieve a breakthrough!” At a case study meeting, the investigating officer said. The special task force treated the technical support stage as a key breakthrough point for the piracy chain. Officers from the technical team delved into massive datasets, comparing every item of information related to the implicated account one by one, and worked to uncover leads to the case.

Officers found that the trading counterparties of the implicated account were spread across the country and all involved transactions of virtual goods. These virtual goods had no clear description or pricing, there was no communication record between the trading parties, and both the transaction process and the flow of funds showed abnormal patterns—matching the typical characteristics of “laundering illegal funds.” Afterwards, officers further dug into related information around the account and carried out comprehensive analysis of the identity information behind it. Through the investigation, officers identified a local suspect in Yongxiu, Li, who had prior experience in website-building work and met the conditions for providing technical support for piracy websites. Meanwhile, the special task force’s analysis concluded that Li was not acting alone—there must inevitably be upstream and downstream criminals involved behind him, such as website operators, those who uploaded works, and those involved in capital settlement.

After conducting a sweep of Li’s situation, once the time was ripe for arrest, officers launched a sudden raid on his residence. At the scene, they seized tools used for the crimes, such as computers, hard drives, and USB flash drives. On multiple piracy website back-end screens on Li’s computer, records of uploading infringing works were clearly visible.

全链捣毁：团伙落网揭开运作黑幕
Destroy the entire chain: The gang is netted, exposing the scheme behind its operations

After Li was taken into custody, the special task force comprehensively analyzed the data contained in Li’s electronic devices, reconstructing the hidden information, and successfully identified five upstream and downstream criminal suspects, including Wang and Xiang. Thus, a complete cross-province piracy industry chain was brought to light.

Because the suspects were scattered across multiple provinces and only connected through the internet, the special task force quickly coordinated with police forces in multiple provinces. They fixed electronic evidence online and simultaneously carried out investigations, containment, and control measures offline. During this period, suspect Lu became aware of the news and attempted to destroy incriminating evidence. Officers immediately joined forces with enterprise technical personnel, and after months of repeated sorting and restoration, they successfully recovered all operational data and transaction records of funds, forming a complete chain of evidence. They then arrested members of the gang and brought them to justice one after another.

According to the investigation, Li’s major in his early years was in the financial field. After entering the workforce, he gradually developed a strong interest in internet technology and taught himself to master multiple network technologies. During his learning and practical work, because purchasing products or services related to network maintenance and technical R&D required substantial capital investment, Li—who was eager to fill the funding gap—after being introduced by others, got to know people including Wang and Xiang. Learning that the others were engaged in operating piracy websites, and to obtain high remuneration, Li took the initiative to take on online maintenance work for the piracy website.

As cooperation deepened, Li gradually integrated into the gang and colluded with Wang and Xiang and others. They divided tasks, worked together, and jointly engaged in illegal profit-making. Since the gang’s operations began, through illegal channels they obtained massive resources of infringing works such as films and television. At the same time, they evaded regulation, operated piracy websites, updated infringing content, and conducted covert traffic redirection to attract users to pay for resources. Using online shopping platforms, they disguised illegal proceeds as normal transactions, thereby laundering illegal funds and profiting extensively from it.

At present, all criminal suspects in the case have been convicted of the crime of infringement of copyright and have been sentenced, respectively, to fixed terms of imprisonment ranging from three years and six months to one year.

Source: Legal Daily

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