Recently, the Yishui County People's Court in Shandong Province reported a weChat group "grabbing red packets" criminal case that attracted attention, the defendant in the case snatched a number of epidemic prevention donation red envelopes in the alumni group and refused to return, and was finally punished by the court for theft and criminal responsibility. In recent years, as WeChat has increasingly become a link between people and work, and has also given criminals an opportunity to take advantage of it, the types and number of cases related to WeChat red envelopes are increasing.
In an interview with the Yangtze Evening News/Purple Cow News reporter, the lawyer pointed out that according to the provisions of the judicial interpretation of the "two supremes", the theft of public and private property has the circumstances of theft of disaster relief, emergency rescue, flood prevention, preferential care, poverty alleviation, immigration, relief funds and materials, etc. The standard of "large amount" can be determined according to 50% of the prescribed standard, that is to say, the standard of the amount of punishment for the crime of stealing these red envelopes will be greatly reduced.
Snatched away 1200 yuan of epidemic prevention donation red envelopes, and fined 2400 yuan
In January 2020, Li joined the group by scanning the QR code of a weChat group of a university alumni shared by His WeChat friends in the "Circle of Friends". Li Mou, knowing that the red envelopes in the group were received by a special person and used to purchase anti-epidemic donated materials, grabbed 2 red envelopes on the same day, totaling 300 yuan.
The Yishui court released a message saying that after the members of the group found out, they asked Li to return the red envelope, but Li refused to return and then quit the group. Subsequently, Li entered the group again by scanning the two-dimensional code and snatched away 5 red envelopes, a total of 900 yuan. After the group owner found out, he blacked out Li.
The day after the incident, the local police seized 1200 yuan in cash from Li and returned it to the victim. In August, the Yishui Procuratorate indicted the case.
The Yishui court held that the defendant Li Mou, for the purpose of illegal possession, still received the red envelope and did not return it without the right to possess the directional red packet in the WeChat group, and the amount was relatively large, and his behavior infringed on the legitimate property interests of the citizens. Defendant Li Mou truthfully confessed the main facts of the crime after his return to the case, he confessed, had a good attitude of admitting guilt and repenting, and could be given a lenient punishment in accordance with law.
In the end, in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Criminal Law, the Yishui court sentenced defendant Li mou to theft and fined him 2400 yuan.
Not alone, the class group was sentenced to three months of detention for grabbing red envelopes
The Yangtze Evening News/Purple Cow News reporter searched and found that cases like Li Mou who violated the criminal law for "grabbing red envelopes" are not unique.
Not long ago, the People's Court of Anxiang County, Hunan Province, concluded a case of theft caused by "grabbing red envelopes."
According to the court's notice, defendant Wu saw the information sent by the homeroom teacher in the WeChat group of his son's class to collect living expenses, tuition and miscellaneous fees, and found that some parents had sent fees to the group by sending WeChat red envelopes. Remembering the collection call from the online loan company he had just received, Wu moumou stolen the red packet, and after about 30 red envelopes were sent out in the WeChat group, he quickly received these red envelopes and immediately withdrew from the WeChat group.
Wu then absconded and used the stolen red envelopes totaling more than 4,000 yuan to repay online loans, play cards and other consumption. After the incident, Wu's wife returned more than 4,000 yuan stolen by Wu to the homeroom teacher.
The Anxiang court held that defendant Wu's conduct constituted the crime of theft. Defendant Wu X has a previous conviction and is given a heavier punishment as appropriate; after returning to the case, truthfully confesses his crime, confesses, and admits guilt and accepts punishment, and is given a lenient punishment in accordance with law; after the crime occurred, all the stolen property was returned, and the victim's forgiveness was obtained, and the punishment was mitigated as appropriate.
Based on this, the court rendered a judgment that Wu was sentenced to three months' detention and fined 2,000 yuan.
Posing as a class teacher to defraud the red envelope collection in the group, the three were sentenced
It is worth noting that in recent years, various WeChat groups have brought convenience to people to communicate, but also given criminals an opportunity to take advantage of, and the types and number of cases related to WeChat group red envelopes are increasing.
The Yangtze Evening News Purple Cow News reporter learned that in a fraud case recently concluded by the Jingjiang Court in Jiangsu Province, fraudsters impersonated the class teacher in the class WeChat group in the name of material fees and photocopying fees, and collected a total of more than 6,000 yuan from the parents of multiple students through red envelopes.
In August 2020, Zhou and Chen conspired to publish false information on the online platform to give away game skins for free, and lured a student into sharing the QR code of the WeChat group of their class in the name of "confirming identity". After that, Zhou used the WeChat signal borrowed by Mr. Chen to scan the fraudulent two-dimensional code to join the class group, and changed his avatar and nickname, posing as the homeroom teacher to publish false information about charging fees in the group, and on the grounds of "not gathering during the epidemic period", he asked the parents in the group to pay a total of 195 yuan in the form of red envelopes for the new semester materials and copy fees.
A total of 33 parents were defrauded of red envelopes totaling 6435 yuan. After the incident, the three men returned the losses of 33 victims and obtained forgiveness.
At trial, the Jingjiang court held that the actions of the three defendants had constituted the crime of fraud. In the end, Zhou was sentenced to seven months in prison, suspended for one year, and fined 4,000 yuan; Chen was sentenced to six months in prison, suspended for one year, and fined 3,000 yuan; Liang was sentenced to four months of detention, suspended for six months, and fined 2,000 yuan.
【Lawyer Analysis】
Grab these red envelopes and reach half the standard of the sentence to convict
"Robbing a red envelope of 1,200 yuan, although it is not large in terms of amount, constitutes a crime, because the nature of the red envelope is different." For the case of the Shandong Yishui Court, Lawyer Xu Xudong of Jiangsu Yicheng Law Firm believes that there are three aspects worth noting.
Xu Xudong said that first of all, because Li grabbed the red envelope sent in a directional manner, this means that the sender only has the meaning of sending the red packet to a special person, and does not authorize any other person to grab the meaning. Therefore, Li's behavior objectively violated the will of the sender and the recipient of the specific red packet, and it should be determined that there was an illegal possession purpose and a criminal intent to steal.
Secondly, the sentencing threshold for theft in Shandong is set at 2,000 yuan, and the amount of Li's theft does not seem to have reached the sentencing threshold, but the judicial interpretation of the "two supremes" clearly stipulates that the theft of public and private property has the circumstances of theft of disaster relief, emergency rescue, flood prevention, preferential care, poverty alleviation, immigration, relief funds and materials, and the standard of "large amount" can be determined according to 50% of the prescribed standard. In other words, snatching these "directional" red envelopes of this nature and reaching half of the standard of the starting amount can be convicted. Because Li stole the money for the purchase of anti-epidemic donated materials, which can be identified as relief funds, and the amount involved in the case has exceeded 1,000 yuan, according to the judicial interpretation and the sentencing provisions of the Shandong Higher People's Court, the conditions for conviction have been met.
Finally, it was an additional sentence of a fine imposed on Li, and the failure to impose the main sentence was in line with the facts of the case. According to the sentencing standards of Shandong Province, because Li confessed, confessed, repented, and had returned the stolen goods, he could be given a lenient punishment according to law, and in the end he was fined but not sentenced to criminal detention or fixed-term imprisonment.
Yangzi Evening News/Purple Cow News reporter Wan Chengyuan Guo Yipeng
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Source: Purple Cow News
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