China Warns of Fraudulent Digital Yuan Apps

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China (MIIT) has issued a warning regarding new fraudulent schemes involving counterfeit digital yuan applications. According to MIIT, these fake apps are designed to resemble the official digital yuan platform, deceiving users into downloading and interacting with them by offering various "promotional activities."

One such fake app, named "Digital Yuan Test Version," bears a logo similar to the official one but with a slightly different user interface. However, users can distinguish between the fake and genuine apps by checking the package name, version, or MD5 message processing algorithm.

For instance, the official app's package name is "cn.gov.pbc.dcep," while the "Test Version" excludes governmental elements and is presented as "com.ecny.ecny2."

These counterfeit apps often resemble financial pyramids, claiming to offer "dividends" to users who use the software. Fraudsters have exploited e-CNY promotional activities, imitating the distribution of "national wealth."

Once users are lured into downloading these fake apps, they are required to provide detailed personal information for "compliance verification," creating a false sense of legality.

Despite users being able to avoid such frauds by downloading apps only from verified platforms, criminal activity continues to escalate with the growing popularity of China's central bank digital currency (CBDC). In January, a Shanghai district court ruled on the first money laundering case involving digital yuan and cryptocurrency. Meanwhile, China aims to introduce more genuine electronic yuan applications.