Man prosecuted over stolen Douyin tokens

A man said to have stolen Douyin (known as TikTok overseas) tokens is being prosecuted by the Shanghai Railway Transport Procuratorate, it said on Wednesday.

The digital currency tokens normally sell for 0.1 yuan (1.52 US cents) each and can be used to tip livestreamers.

A man surnamed Ye called the police, saying he had lost tokens worth 4,000 yuan after he gave his verification code to a man called Li who said he was a Douyin operator, the procuratorate said.

Li told Ye on the video-sharing platform that if he topped up his Douyin account, he could receive double tokens. But Li said he needed Ye’s Douyin number and verification code.

Ye then found that his tokens had been given to an unknown livestreamer and he then lost contact with the fraudster.

Several days later, Li was arrested in Songjiang District, and is said to have told police this wasn’t his first such crime.

He had used a Douyin account, called “woshipianzi” (which means “I am a swindler” in English) to steal tokens worth 13,000 yuan from another user.

After he accessed the victims’ accounts, he would link them to his accounts on WeChat and QQ.

He knew this method as he had also been a victim, losing thousands of yuan, the procuratorate said.

Investigations are ongoing, it said.