Shanghai Qingpu Prosecutorate Deals with Illegal Eavesdropping Equipment Case

TapTechNews June 2nd, according to the official account of "Green Qingpu", recently, the People's Procuratorate of Qingpu District, Shanghai Municipality, has legally initiated a public prosecution against a case涉嫌 illegally producing and selling special equipment for eavesdropping.

TapTechNewsDetails of the specific case as follows:

After investigation, in June 2022, the recently graduated Song XX, in order to make money, opened an online store in partnership with his friend Yang XX to sell household and vehicle-mounted electronic products. The two clearly knew they didn't have the sales qualification, but they took a gamble and secretly sold special "power banks" with eavesdropping and positioning functions. Yang was responsible for purchasing from Xie XX and Chen XX, and Song was mainly responsible for sales, with a 50/50 split of the profits. Xie and Chen disassembled ordinary power banks at home, implanted eavesdropping and positioning chips, and then reassembled them, and then sent them to Yang XX by courier. The entire criminal chain is closely linked and has a clear division of labor.

In September 22nd, 2022, the Qingpu police received a report from the informant Xiaojie, stating that a power bank he purchased online could realize functions such as automatic positioning, recording and monitoring, and suspected that it might involve illegal and criminal activities. The police attached great importance to it. After careful investigation, on September 26th and 29th, Song XX and Yang XX were successively arrested with the assistance of the police in Yuanping, Shanxi and Ningde, Fujian. In March 2023, Xie XX was caught, and then Chen XX surrendered himself. The police seized a large amount of components for illegally assembling power banks on the spot.

After examination, the actions of these four people have constituted the crime of illegally producing and selling special equipment for eavesdropping, which violates Article 283, Paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code.

In September 20th, 2023, the Qingpu District Procuratorate initiated a public prosecution against Yang XX and Song XX with the crime of illegally selling special equipment for eavesdropping. In the same year on October 10th, the court sentenced Yang XX to 6 months of detention, with 8 months of probation, and a fine of 7000 US dollars; sentenced Song XX to 3 months of detention, with 5 months of probation, and a fine of 3000 US dollars.

In May 7th, 2024, the prosecution also initiated a public prosecution against Xie XX and Chen XX with the crime of illegally producing and selling special equipment for eavesdropping, and presented sentencing suggestions to the court. The case is under further review.