Hangzhou Solves a Cryptocurrency Ransom Case Targeting Businesses, Involving Over 300,000 RMB

BlockBeats News, May 19th. Recently, according to Xinhua News Agency, the People's Court of Shangcheng District, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, pronounced the verdict of a special extortion case in the first instance. An engineer who was originally engaged in cybersecurity used a Trojan virus to "hack" a corporate network system and demanded cryptocurrency as "ransom."

By the end of 2023, the head of the technology department of a medical institution in Hangzhou received successive calls from various departments, reporting that the system could not be logged in. Upon verification, a total of 89 servers in the company were unable to operate, causing a complete business paralysis. It was estimated that three victimized enterprises spent over 330,000 yuan in total to purchase cryptocurrency from a third party to pay the ransom in order to resume normal operations.

After the suspect was arrested, he admitted to the criminal fact of carrying out extortion through a Trojan virus. On September 11, 2024, the People's Procuratorate of Shangcheng District filed public prosecutions against Qi and three others on charges of extortion and infringement of citizens' personal information. In March 2025, the case was heard in the People's Court of Shangcheng District. Recently, the four defendants were sentenced in the first instance to imprisonment ranging from three years to seven years and six months, and fines. The judgment is currently in effect.