Arrested after selling VPN services for $ 1.6 million

The Chinese authorities' crackdown on illegal VPN services continues, with what appears to be their biggest take to date.

Chinese authorities are continuing to track down unauthorized and unregistered VPN software vendors in the country. They particularly focus on those capable of overcoming the "Great Firewall". Since 2017, arrests have continued. However, their biggest catch seems to have taken place in late 2019.

According to a Litchi News report, local Taizhou police arrested a 29-year-old man who allegedly made a fortune by selling VPN services. Identified only by his pseudonym, Gao, the suspect has been operating a VPN service since 2016 which allows to bypass the "Great Firewall". The service has been very successful, according to the report, which claims that Gao earned more than $ 1.6 million (11 million Chinese yuan) by renting access to VPN servers from more than 28,000 regular customers.

Estimated revenues are higher than any other VPN provider arrested by Chinese authorities to date - most of them having made tens of thousands of dollars, according to previous reports. Gao pleaded guilty last year and is currently awaiting a long sentence.

Heavy sentences

For comparison, in September 2017, the Chinese authorities sentenced a man from Dongguan to nine months in prison for operating a VPN service through which he would have earned the sum of $ 2,000. Likewise, in December 2017, the Chinese authorities sentenced a man from Pingnan to a five-year prison sentence for operating an unregistered VPN service and earned around $ 120,000 by renting access to 8,000 customers. Gao's sentence will most likely be at least equal to, if not greater than, that imposed in this latter case.

Operating a VPN service in China is not illegal. However, since 2017, all VPN providers must register with the Chinese authorities and ensure that their service is not used for criminal activity or to circumvent the national "Great Firewall".

In January 2017, Chinese authorities announced that they will launch a 14-month campaign to dismantle all unauthorized VPN providers, or those who have not registered with local authorities.

As part of this effort, Chinese authorities have asked Apple to remove dozens of VPN applications from the Chinese version of the app store. Apple agreed.

According to a 2016 report, China has long considered and categorized VPN services, proxies and other traffic anonymization tools as "terrorist software".