Recently, cryptocurrency scams have been occurring frequently, and regulatory authorities have finally taken serious action. A legislative body in a certain region recently passed the third reading of the amendment to the "Fraud Crime Prevention and Control Regulations." This revision is indeed significant—targeting virtual asset-related scams, it substantially increases both prison sentences and fines.

Regarding specific numbers, the new system adopts a three-tier progressive scale: for fraud amounts over 1 million yuan, the penalty is 3 to 10 years in prison; for amounts over 10 million yuan, the prison term rises to 5 to 12 years; and once it exceeds 100 million yuan, the penalty starts at 7 years or can be life imprisonment. This approach is in response to increasingly outrageous major cases in recent years—such as fake investment platforms and clone exchanges, with victims losing from tens of millions to over a billion yuan.

In addition to harsher penalties, the amendment also authorizes financial institutions to strengthen proactive measures. If suspicious transaction signs are detected, banks can directly freeze accounts and report to the police, enabling faster disruption of the scammer’s funds chain. From a policy perspective, this aims to address loopholes through coordinated financial regulation—after all, most scams ultimately involve real money flows.

Reactions to such policies in the market have always been polarized: defenders see this as necessary risk management, while exchanges and practitioners worry that excessive regulation could impact normal business operations. But regardless, virtual asset scams have long become a public nuisance, and increasing crackdown efforts are an inevitable trend.