Former Chinese hacker now in online gambling trouble

Li Jun, the thirty-something Chinese creator of the notorious Panda Burns computer virus which created havoc some years ago, served 3 years jail time for his sins and promised to take the straight and narrow option, but he is now in prison again – this time for running an illegal online gambling ring.

The Wall Street Journal reported this week that Li Jun was apparently arrested in the eastern province of Zhejiang earlier this year for his involvement with online gambling business Gold Ingot Chess and Card platform, which has since been shuttered by the authorities.

A statement from the Higher People’s Court of Zhejiang confirms that Li Jun is being prosecuted, claiming that he joined the scheme when it was already in progress shortly after he left prison. It involved at least one co-conspirator in the Panda virus, the court said, as well as another man who funded the project. Some 17 people were detained as part of the Internet gambling crackdown.

Li Jun is alleged to have co-managed the online gambling network, and that it illegally netted many millions of yuan.

This time around the publicity given to the prosecution is not as noticeable as Li Jun’s Panda Burn project.

He became internationally infamous when he turned loose his virus, which posted an appealing cartoon of a Panda holding joss sticks, and while the owner of an infected computer admired the graphic, Li Jun plundered any unguarded personal information and more often than not raided the victim’s bank balances or credit card accounts.

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