On May 19, according to Xinhua News, the Shangcheng District People's Court in Hangzhou, Zhejiang recently delivered a first-instance verdict in a special extortion case. A former network security engineer used a Trojan virus to "hack" the enterprise network system and demanded cryptocurrency as "ransom".
At the end of 2023, the technical department head of a medical institution in Hangzhou received consecutive calls from various departments reporting system login failures. Upon verification, the company found that a total of 89 servers were inoperable, completely paralyzing business operations. Statistics showed that three victim enterprises spent over 330,000 yuan purchasing cryptocurrency from a third party to pay the perpetrator in order to restore normal operations.
After being apprehended, the suspect admitted to the criminal facts of extortion using Trojan viruses. On September 11, 2024, the Shangcheng District People's Procuratorate legally initiated prosecution against Qi and three others for extortion and infringement of citizens' personal information. In March 2025, the case was tried in the Shangcheng District People's Court. Recently, the four defendants were sentenced to imprisonment ranging from three to seven and a half years, along with additional fines. The verdict has now taken effect.
