What evidence is needed to convict a dating scam

Marriage fraud is a very common type of fraud, relatively easy to criminalize, this article uses three cases to illustrate the conviction evidence and sentencing of marriage fraud.

Between August 2017 and December 2018, defendant Wu met the victim through an online game, and then used a false identity in the process of online chat to conceal his true marital status and establish a "love" relationship with the victim. During the period, Wu used the "lover relationship" between the two to make the victim take the initiative to pay money, or fabricated various reasons such as getting sick and needing to buy medicine, scratching others while delivering and driving to compensate, etc., to defraud the victim of more than 160,000 yuan and squander it.

Evidence in the case: Defendant Wu's confession, victim's statement, WeChat Payment transaction details, work instructions, screenshots of WeChat chat records

Sentencing: The court held that defendant Wu's conduct had constituted the crime of fraud, and sentenced Wu to three years and six months imprisonment and a fine of RMB 10,000; ordered the victim to return compensation for economic losses.

Through online dating software, the defendant fabricated his military identity or background, and fictitious work unit, occupation, and income level, gained the trust and interaction of many victims, and deceived each victim into transferring a total of more than 500,000 yuan to him.

Between March and July 2018, the defendant had a romantic relationship with the victim through the above-mentioned methods, during which he defrauded the victim of nearly 80,000 yuan on the grounds of brushing orders, repaying arrears, and paying medical expenses in advance. Between March and April 2018, the same means described above were used to defraud the victim Chen of more than RMB90,000 on the grounds that he needed to pay renovation costs and arrears. From May to August 2018, the same means described above were used to defraud the victim of paying more than RMB80,000 on the grounds of brushing orders and paying meal expenses. Wait a minute.

Evidence in the case: The defendant's confession, the statements of the victims Gou, Chen, Fu, Li, Zhao, Yang, Wu, and Zhen, the testimony of witness Liu, WeChat chat records, bank transfer receipts, Alipay transfer records, WeChat transfer records, and photos

Sentencing: The defendant committed fraud and was sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment, deprivation of political rights for two years, and a fine of 100,000 yuan.

The defendant and the victim met through a ride and developed a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship. Between January 2017 and June 2018, defendant Ge repeatedly borrowed money from Ms. Lin on false grounds such as doing business and treating relatives, and defrauded the victim Ms. Lin of a total of more than RMB1.3 million.

Evidence in the case:

Defendant Ge Zheng's confession: In October 2016, he and Lin met by hitchhiking, and two months later developed into a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship, and in January 2017, because the company's business needed to use money, he borrowed 8,000 yuan from Lin and said that he would pay her back when he had money, and then he successively borrowed money from Lin for various reasons. In August 2017, he told Lin that he wanted to open a car wash and asked Lin for 60,000 yuan, and after getting the money, he went to gamble. In January 2018, he lied that his mother was ill and asked Lin for 150,000 yuan and also took it to gamble. Later, he borrowed money from Lin Mou on the grounds that his investment was deceived, and when he borrowed money, he went to gamble. So far, he and Lin have asked for about 1.4 and 500,000 yuan, and 36,000 yuan have been repaid to Lin during the period. Lin mou doubted her, he felt that he was with Lin somewhere, Lin mou helped him is also reasonable, Lin suspected that he cheated her on reasons such as making up investment, she believed. It deceived Lin dozens of times, WeChat Alipay has, each time it made up a fictitious reason, Lin lent him money, he does not know where Lin's money comes from. The company mentioned in the chat with Lin is not his, he works for that company but is only an employee. The house he promised when he communicated with Lin about repayment was in his mother's name and has not been sold. The red wine business mentioned by him and Lin Mou, the car wash, his mother's heart disease went to the hospital to see a doctor, the trustee to open a household registration, his mother was deceived, the company owed money, the father died and needed to buy an urn, to do business in other places, sell houses, etc. are all fabricated reasons, about 60% of the borrowed money is used for gambling, and the rest is basically used to repay small loans. He began gambling in 2008, playing baccarat on Myanmar's website but the website could not be remembered, and lost about three million yuan in these years.

The statement of the victim Lin Mou: In January 2017, Ge Zheng took his ride, and the two of them met, and later when he had a good feeling for Ge Zheng, he developed in the direction of boyfriend and girlfriend. At about 19:00 on January 18, 2017, Ge Zheng asked for help through WeChat, saying that he needed more than 4,000 yuan to make up for the supplier, and he really had no way to ask him if he could help him, and at the end of February 2017, he could return it, and he didn't think much about it and gave Ge Zheng 8,000 yuan through Alipay, but Ge Zheng has not returned it. Later, Ge Zheng would ask him for money every month, on the grounds of repaying the company's arrears, doing the official agent of oxygen bubbles, lending, repaying friends' money, inviting friends to dinner, red wine business, opening a car wash, travel expenses, repaying online loans, and mother's illness. As of June 27, 2018, Ge Zheng asked him for 1,319,100 yuan, and he repeatedly asked Ge Zheng for money, but Ge Zheng repeatedly shirked that he would not pay it back, and he felt that he had been deceived by Ge Zheng and called the police. He and Ge Zheng have talked about boyfriend and girlfriend for a while, and after January 3, 2018, they feel that there is no boyfriend and girlfriend relationship between them and Ge Zheng, and they will meet less. There is no economic dispute between him and Ge Zheng, and he does not owe Ge Zheng money.

WeChat and Alipay transfer records, loan details, bank account transaction details, WeChat chat records

Sentencing: The Haidian court sentenced Ge to 12 years' imprisonment, deprivation of political rights for three years, a fine of 120,000 yuan, and ordered the victim to return compensation for economic losses for fraud.

Reason for the judgment: The defendant claimed that he had lost a huge amount of money due to gambling and owed a loan shark before borrowing from the victim, which shows that he did not have the ability to repay the huge loan before borrowing. Judging from the situation that defendant Ge Mou fabricated the reason for the loan and concealed the purpose of the loan when he borrowed money from the victim, subjectively he should clearly know that if he told the truth, he might not get the victim's money, and even the trust between him and the victim due to the love relationship might end, in fact, the victim also clearly stated that if he learned the truth, he would not lend the money.

After obtaining the money, the defendant Ge did not use the money for the self-proclaimed profit-making project but for gambling and returning the usurious loan, which not only contradicted the victim's intention to lend the money, but also directly led to the consequences that the money involved in the case could not be returned, and his claimed income was not enough to return the huge amount of money involved in the case, which shows that the defendant Ge mou did not have the ability to repay after borrowing. When the victim, Ms. Lin, asked for money, defendant Ge evaded the reminder by promising to obtain a certificate to get married, and also delayed the repayment time by promising to sell the house to repay the loan, repaying a small amount of money, writing an IOU, etc., and subjectively did not have the will to return the victim's money.

In summary, defendant Ge took advantage of the trust and concern of the victim Ms. Lin based on the love relationship, borrowed a huge amount of money for his own squandering through fictitious borrowing grounds, with the purpose of illegally possessing the victim's money, which is essentially different from the private lending dispute, so the court did not accept the defense and defense opinions put forward by the defense.

These three cases are very typical and represent the pattern of marriage fraud, one of which is a light sentence case and two heavy sentence cases. The first case is very simple, and the second case is difficult to defend without guilt because of multiple scams. The distinction between private lending and loan fraud was also dealt with in the three cases, and the court discussed the reasons for the conviction in detail.

The evidence structure of marriage fraud is relatively simple, mainly the confessions, chat records and transfer records of the parties. Sentencing mainly depends on the amount, and when it exceeds half a million, it is more than ten years, which is a type of crime that is very easy to re-sentence. It is worth noting that marriage fraud sometimes intersects with borrowing, and there is room for innocence whether it constitutes fraud in different cases.