Photo: IC

China's cyber police arrested a gang of three engaged in cyber investment scams in December 2020, who turned out to be postgraduates majored in computer science at the top Chinese universities, according to a recent release by the cybersecurity bureau of China's Ministry of Public Security.

Members of the gang were top-notch talents in computer science, according to the police. They developed multiple illegal mobile apps to cheat investors for their money. Their victims are from all over the country, with over 100 million yuan ($15.61 million) involved.

Their crimes first came to light in late 2020, when a woman in East China's Zhejiang Province, surnamed Liu, found that she was not able to withdraw money from an app used to manage her investments.

Before that, Liu, ecstatic about the rising numbers in her account and believing that she was going to gain lucrative profits, had continued to increase investment, and topped up to 180,000 yuan ($28,098) in the app within ten days.

The app's backstage software was flawless and it was hard to trace, the police said. In December, the police finally seized the three suspects, together with over 30 mobile phones and over 10 sets of illegal source codes for mobile apps.

A following investigation showed that the gang had used the source codes to create a number of apps for investment fraud purposes. As soon as someone was cheated, the app would be abandoned.

The gang also set up a number of platforms to launder money for overseas online fraud gangs, the police said.