On September 3, according to the Kaohsiung City Qiaotou District Prosecutor's Office, two military police officers were investigated and prosecuted by the prosecutors for allegedly leaking state secrets in China's bribery of cryptocurrency USDT. Prosecutors said the two officers received a total of 8,151 Tether (USDT) in exchange for at least seven confidential military documents.
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ToggleMoney lures Taiwanese military officers and uses USDT to bribe them to steal secrets
According to the prosecutor's investigation, starting in December 2022, an officer named Han met a Chinese person with the nickname "Good Voice" on the Internet because of his need for loans. After the two parties used the communication software Telegram as a communication channel and reached a consensus, Han collected And they copied the military's internal confidential documents and took them out of the camp one after another in paper packages. The Chinese person nicknamed "Good Voice" transferred 7,222 USDT (equivalent to approximately NT$231,104) to a Korean account in accordance with the agreement.
Another officer surnamed Lin took advantage of the opportunity to meet with an officer surnamed Han in the camp on February 11, 2024, to hand over his military account information to Han, log in to the military's internal website, and at the same time store the information held by Lin. Seven confidential documents, including internal documents and communication operations active defense manual, were taken out of the camp privately.
After the incident was completed, the Chinese person nicknamed "Good Voice" transferred 929 USDT to the account of an officer named Han on February 15, 2024. Both men are currently being charged by prosecutors, including violating the "National Security Law" and the "Anti-Corruption Law."
The infiltration has not stopped, and retired military officers have also become targets.
In another case in August, the Taoyuan City Investigation Office found 10 retired soldiers who were recruited by CCP officials in 2022 and used money to lure and assist the CCP in developing organizations in Taiwan. The Taiwan High Court prosecuted and sentenced 10 suspects to prison in accordance with the law for crimes involving "National Security Law, State Secrets Protection Law, Army, Navy and Air Force Criminal Code, Corruption Crime Ordinance and Criminal Code".
The longest prison sentence was 13 years, while others were sentenced to 18 months in prison. The charge is to leak military secrets to China in exchange for an undisclosed amount of cryptocurrency.
Using cryptocurrency to infiltrate Taiwan’s military poses new challenges to national security
Recent cases in Kaohsiung and Taoyuan have shown that China used cryptocurrencies such as USDT to bribe Taiwan’s active and retired military officers and illegally obtain military secrets. The anonymity and convenience of cryptocurrencies make cross-border espionage operations easier, allowing China to infiltrate Taiwan’s military and expand the scope of its intelligence operations.
These incidents highlight the potential risks of cryptocurrencies to national security, showing China's use of digital means to accelerate penetration of Taiwan's defense systems. We must also strengthen counterintelligence and information security, and strengthen the supervision of cryptocurrency to prevent the leakage of state secrets through digital channels.
