A Chinese national has been convicted for her role in a fraudulent cryptocurrency scheme after law enforcement authorities in the U.K. confiscated £5.5 billion (about $7.39 billion) during a raid of her home in London.
The cryptocurrency seizure, amounting to 61,000 Bitcoin, is believed to be the single largest such effort in the world, the Metropolitan Police said.
Zhimin Qian (aka Yadi Zhang), 47, pleaded guilty at Southwark Crown Court on Monday to offenses related to acquiring and possessing criminal property (i.e., cryptocurrency). She is expected to be sentenced at a later date.
The Met Police said the seizure was the result of a probe launched in 2018 after it received a tip-off about the transfer of criminal assets, with the agency accusing Zhang of orchestrating a large-scale fraud in China between 2014 and 2017 that defrauded more than 128,000 victims. According to Sky News, Zhang was arrested in April 2024.
The scheme essentially duping victims, mostly between 50 and 75 years old, into investing their funds with false promises of daily dividends and guaranteed profits, after which the proceeds are converted into Bitcoin.
“She then fled China using false documents and entered the U.K., where in September 2018 she attempted to launder the proceeds via purchasing property, with the assistance of an assailant, Jian Wen,” the agency noted.
Wen was also jailed for six years and eight months last May for her role in the operation, which involved facilitating the movement of a cryptocurrency wallet that contained 150 Bitcoin, then valued at £1.7 million ($2.28 million). Earlier this January, Wen was ordered to pay back more than £3.1 million ($4.16 million) or face extra time in jail.
Operation Contender 3.0 Targets Romance Scams and Sextortion in 14 African Countries
The development comes as INTERPOL said authorities in 14 African countries arrested 260 suspects and seized 1,235 electronic devices as part of a coordinated international operation dubbed Contender 3.0 that took place between July 28 and August 11, 2025, to tackle cyber-enabled crime.
Countries that participated in the activity included Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Uganda, and Zambia.
“The crackdown targeted transnational criminal networks exploiting digital platforms, particularly social media, to manipulate victims and defraud them financially,” it said. “Specifically, the operation focused on romance scams, where perpetrators build online relationships to extract money from victims, and sextortion, in which victims are blackmailed with explicit images or videos.”
The illicit activities have claimed 1,463 victims, resulting in losses of $2.8 million. The arrests were carried out in Ghana, Senegal, Cote d’Ivoire, and Angola. The suspects were found to use fake profiles, forged identities, and stolen images to deceive victims and pull off the scams and, in some cases, trick individuals into sharing intimate images.
Alongside the arrests, USB drives, SIM cards, and forged documents used by the suspects to support their criminal activities were seized by officials. It also resulted in the dismantling of 81 cybercrime infrastructures across the continent.
Group-IB, which was one of the private sector entities to support the operation along with Trend Micro, said it provided intelligence on the perpetrators who targeted and interacted with victims of romance scams and digital sextortion. It also said it shared details regarding the payment data used by these criminals in their extortion attempts.
“Cybercrime units across Africa are reporting a sharp rise in digital-enabled crimes such as sextortion and romance scams,” Cyril Gout, acting executive director of Police Services at INTERPOL, said. “The growth of online platforms has opened new opportunities for criminal networks to exploit victims, causing both financial loss and psychological harm.”
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