In an official announcement, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in China cautioned investors about a fake digital yuan that has drawn public attention. The ministry stated that the fake central bank digital currency, commonly known as the digital yuan, resembles the original version of the CBDC.
The only difference between the two is the software version and the package. Compared to the original digital yuan, the ministry noted that the fake version pulling dividend features requires the users to provide confidential information.
Criminal Introduces Fake Digital Yuan to Defraud Investors
Also, the government agency noted that the fake digital Yuan app provides users with questionable customer service, instructing them to follow procedures on uncommon social platforms.
The ministry observed that the fake digital Yuan logo, user interface, and slogan were close copycats of the Chinese CBDC.
However, most aspects of the fake CBDC differed from the original digital yuan. After comparing the two, the ministry noted that the fake app’s logo and user interface had different features from the original CBDC.
Features of Fake Digital Yuan
Also, the ministry observed that the fake digital yuan had a different package name, version number and message digest algorithm (MD5).
In their observation, the agency noted that the package name on the fake CBDC ended with ….com.ecny.ecny2 while the authentic digital yuan contained the official government domain “cn.gov.pbc.dcep.”
Based on the fake digital yuan features, the law enforcers described the bogus app as a scheme to defraud the investors participating in the ongoing CBDC trials. The ministry observed that the fake digital yuan resembles a crypto scam requiring users to share the link to receive dividends.
Currently, the ministry has commenced security investigations to probe the case. Due to the features of the fake digital yuan, the ministry confessed that it was unclear which operating system was used to create the bogus link.
With the ongoing investigation, Chinese law enforcers will liaise with the Apple team to remove any content on the App Store that violates the law. In a separate report, Google argued that removing content from the Google App Store would require supporting evidence, including court documents explaining why the app was inappropriate.
Growing Adoption of the Chinese Digital Yuan
Apart from this, the ministry noted that as the Chinese government seeks to increase the use case of the digital yuan, the bad actors are taking advantage of it to launch their unlawful scheme. Since 2021, scammers have launched fake digital yuan projects to defraud customers.
An earlier report from the former Chinese People’s Bank governor, Zhou Xiaochuan, argued that the lower the technical cost, the more convenient the CBDC system becomes. He predicted that the distinguished features of the CBDC would become a centre of abuse.
The executive advised the team behind the digital yuan to be vigilant when developing the digital version of the Chinese currency. Zhou’s sentiment came when the use case of the digital yuan attained exciting growth.
In 2023, the digital yuan was used to complete transactions worth $250 billion. The report demonstrated that around 16.5 billion digital yuan, valued at $2.3 billion, was circulated in June 2023.
Despite the growing adoption of the digital yuan, the Chinese authority remains at the forefront of the fight against the abuse of crypto assets. In an earlier report, the Chinese government claimed that crypto had been used to launder illicit funds and conduct unlawful activities.
