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SINGAPORE – A man was handed a jail sentence on March 10 after he acquired cryptocurrency worth US$772,500 \u2013 nearly S$990,000, according to court documents \u2013 for helping three foreign hackers who were members of a crime syndicate. <\/p>\n
Sun Jiao, 43, was sentenced to two years and eight months\u2019 jail after pleading guilty to 10 charges, including multiple counts of misusing a computer system and one count of dealing with the benefits of criminal conduct. <\/p>\n
He had also operated a gambling website that targeted South Koreans and illegally gained access to customer accounts on a South Korea-based portal. <\/p>\n
In September 2024, Sun and the three hackers were part of a group of men <\/p>\n who were arrested<\/p>\n <\/a> after Singapore authorities conducted simultaneous raids at multiple locations islandwide. <\/p>\n Sun, a Chinese national who is also a permanent resident of Greece, had helped the hackers when they encountered technical issues they could not resolve. <\/p>\n The three hackers, who are also Chinese nationals, were earlier engaged by Vanuatu\u00a0citizen Xu Liangbiao, 38, who had left Singapore a day before\u00a0local authorities arrested other offenders involved in\u00a0a <\/p>\n $3 billion money laundering case<\/p>\n <\/a>. <\/p>\n Liu Yuqi, Huang Qinzheng and Yan Peijian\u00a0<\/p>\n were each handed a jail sentence in November 2025<\/p>\n <\/a>. They were between 33 and 39 years old at the time.<\/p>\n Xu\u2019s whereabouts are unknown after he left Singapore on Aug 14, 2023. Court documents, however, did not say if he was allegedly involved in the $3 billion money laundering case \u2013 Singapore\u2019s biggest money laundering case \u2013 in which <\/p>\n 10 other foreigners were arrested<\/p>\n <\/a>. <\/p>\n They were later convicted and deported after serving their sentences. <\/p>\n For the current case, Deputy Public Prosecutor Cheah Wenjie said Sun knew the three hackers when they were still in China. <\/p>\n Between May 2023 and September 2024, Yan, Huang, Liu, and Xu were members of an organised criminal group based in Singapore linked to hacking-related activities. <\/p>\n While working for the syndicate, the three hackers regularly consulted Sun and sought his help, the court heard. <\/p>\n On Sept 5, 2024, Xu transferred three million USDT cryptocurrency to Liu as payment for their work in the syndicate. <\/p>\n The three hackers then agreed to split the bulk of the cryptocurrency among themselves, and give Sun an equal fourth share to recognise the help that he had given them. <\/p>\n Separately, the court heard that Sun had registered a company in Singapore called Xunshan, and was its sole shareholder and director. <\/p>\n However, the company did not operate any business, and had no revenue. <\/p>\n Around February to May 2024, Sun and other unnamed individuals based overseas began operating a gambling website that targeted South Koreans. <\/p>\n Sun earned about US$30,000 to US$70,000 worth of cryptocurrency a month from operating this gambling website. <\/p>\n In July that year, he engaged an overseas friend, identified as Li Fengchu, 41, to hack other websites and obtain their users\u2019 personal information. <\/p>\n Sun later told investigations that he had paid Li at least 10,000 USDT in total. <\/p>\n In August 2024, Sun sent Li a message, asking him about a matter involving a move to gain unauthorised access into a South Korea-based website. <\/p>\n The portal was the official website for an internet data centre (IDC) that was a server-hosting provider in Asia. <\/p>\n Sun and Li later gained access to 3,000 customer accounts of the IDC. <\/p>\n When Sun was arrested in 2024, the police seized from him cryptocurrency worth around US$850,000, and multiple electronic devices including an iPhone, DPP Cheah said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n