Mr. Cheng of Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, has been troubled lately. Her precious daughter, who studied at Duke University in the United States, sent a message saying that she was targeted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) because of her suspicion of a transnational fraud case, or a joint Case between China and the United States.
How could my daughter have such a big deal? This kind of battle, Mr. Cheng has only seen in the TV series, and soon panicked...
The daughter studying abroad suddenly called:
"Dad, the FBI says I'm involved in a crime"
Early in the morning of 2021, Mr. Cheng received a cross-border phone call from his daughter Xiao Cheng: "Dad, the US FBI is checking the international students, found me, said I am suspected of cross-border crimes, and want to repatriate me to China." Although Mr. Cheng did not understand the judicial procedures abroad, he had heard the name of the "FBI" and immediately panicked.
Mr. Cheng hurriedly asked his daughter if she had really gone astray, and on the other end of the phone, her daughter repeatedly assured that she had not participated in any illegal activities.
Xiao Cheng also sent a screenshot of a chat with a foreign social software, the other party claimed to be a staff member of the US Internet Complaint Center IDC, saying that Xiao Cheng was complained by dozens of people about participating in a transnational fraud activity, more than 200 people involved in the case, the main offender has been arrested, and now he wants to contact the Chinese Embassy to extradite Xiao Cheng back to China for trial.
The screenshot shows that the other party also transferred the voice phone to the domestic "xx city public security Xu police officer" who co-handled the case.
The "Xu police officer" told Xiao Cheng: "Now this case involves China and the United States, and more than a dozen people have already sued you in real names in China, and once the charges are confirmed, you will be extradited back to China for trial immediately." After speaking, "Officer Xu" sent a "Complaint Letter", which was written in black and white, and the name of the judge was displayed at the place where the money was dropped, stamped with a red seal, which was very formal.
Xiao Cheng hurriedly asked what to do, "Officer Xu" told her that as long as she cooperates with the case and finds out the facts, she can not be extradited, but she needs to cooperate with the police to transfer $200,000 of funds to the supervision account, and if the innocence is verified, it can be returned.
Chat history of Xiao Cheng and "Officer Xu"
1.3 million yuan is transferred to the designated account
The owner of the account was arrested
"Dad, I don't want to be taken away, you help me." On the other end of the phone, Xiao Cheng was crying in a hurry.
"We will give you a copy of the "Regulatory Certificate" issued by the xx procuratorate, and the funds will be returned to you after the funds are identified." On the one hand, the sworn "Police Officer Xu" and on the other hand, the daughter who was about to be scared and crying, Mr. Cheng immediately transferred RMB and US dollars to the designated account according to the requirements of the other party, with a total amount of about 1.3 million yuan.
However, half a month has passed in the blink of an eye, the daughter's affairs have not progressed, "Officer Xu" has not heard from, and Mr. Cheng, who is aware of it, wakes up like a dream, realizes that he may have been deceived, and quickly reports the case. The public security organs immediately launched an investigation after receiving the police, but at this time, the defrauded renminbi had been dispersed and transferred abroad, and it was already difficult to recover it.
After the capital flow screening, the public security organs found that the large amount of money that Mr. Cheng was defrauded was transferred to the account of Xiao Tao (pseudonym), a man from another province, and then dispersed to many accounts. With the assistance of the public security organs of other provinces, Xiao Tao was arrested and brought to justice.
On March 24, the Shangcheng District Procuratorate of Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province, accepted the case, and after guiding the supplementary investigation, the procuratorate retrieved the chat records of Mr. Cheng's daughter abroad and found that the case was a transnational fraud case carried out by impersonating a foreign legal organ. After interrogation, Xiao Tao truthfully confessed all the criminal facts that he had previously sold his bank card to criminals for fraud.
note! Selling your own "card" is illegal!
Recently, the Shangcheng District Procuratorate filed a public prosecution with the Shangcheng District Court on the suspicion that defendant Xiao Tao was suspected of helping information network criminal activities. At present, the case is under further consideration in the court.
Selling bank cards, bound mobile phone numbers, U shields, etc. opened by one's real name to others for use in information network crimes is "providing payment and settlement assistance" in article 287 bis of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China.
In judicial practice, if the amount of payment and settlement reaches more than 200,000 yuan or the sale of bank cards illegally profits of more than 10,000 yuan, the person who sells the bank card will be investigated for criminal responsibility for the crime of helping information network criminal activities. Criminals who acquire bank cards to commit fraud, such as fraud amounts of more than 500,000 yuan, are "particularly huge amounts".
In this case, Xiao Tao coveted small profits and sold bank cards to criminals, causing millions of yuan in losses to the victims, and his behavior has constituted the crime of helping information network criminal activities, and what awaits him is the punishment of the law. Criminals who commit fraud will also face more than ten years in prison if the amount of fraud far exceeds the "particularly large amount" standard.
These scam gangs extend their black hands to international students
In recent years, overseas fraud gangs have gradually extended the target group from Domestic to Foreign Countries, and fraud cases for overseas students have become active. When the procuratorate handled the case, it was found that many upstream criminal hiding points were distributed outside the country, and the internal organization of the gang was strict, the division of labor was meticulous, the anti-investigation ability was relatively strong, the criminal method generally adopted remote and non-contact fraud, and even in some cases, there was also a chain of domestic and foreign collusion and crime, which was highly concealed and difficult to crack down.
After the domestic victim is deceived, even if the case is reported, the judicial organs can only catch the downstream criminal personnel who buy and sell telephone cards and bank cards, and the remittance transferred by the victim to the scammer is difficult to recover once the transfer is dispersed to multiple accounts abroad.
Therefore, telecommunications network fraud is not only to combat, but also to prevent at the source. Whether it is the domestic people or foreign students, they need to establish a sense of prevention and be cautious of the tricks of the scammers, so that the scammers have nowhere to hide.
Source: An Jian, Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission, Procuratorial Daily Justice Network, Hangzhou Daily, Shangcheng Procuratorate
Editor: Wang Jiaru
Draft: Lu Shuangying