Coordinated Efforts to Investigate Problems, Weaving a Tightly Woven Protective Network (Building a Higher Level of Safe China)

Source: People's Daily - People's Daily

Police in Chongqing and other places cracked a "slimming and health products" network fraud case, and more than 80% of the victims were elderly people

Coordinated Efforts to Investigate Problems, Weaving a Tightly Woven Protective Network (Building a Higher Level of Safe China)

The police in Chongqing and other places smashed an extraordinarily large fraud gang, which seized the psychological needs of the elderly and other groups who wanted to lose weight easily, starting from the promotion of a "diet body fiber" product, luring the elderly into a trap, prompting many elderly people to continue to invest large amounts of money.

In order to effectively safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of the elderly, all localities and departments have coordinated efforts to strengthen publicity, education and crackdown, standardize the management of network platforms, guide the elderly to purchase products from regular platforms, and enhance awareness and ability to prevent fraud.

- Editor

799 yuan, 4180 yuan, 45,000 yuan... For more than a month, Hu Ying (pseudonym), a 65-year-old man living in Chongqing's Fuling District, spent nearly 100,000 yuan on his weight loss plan without his family. In the end, she couldn't stand the torment, told her family about the matter, and walked into the police station accompanied by her family.

Even Hu Ying herself did not expect that her alarm would allow the police to dig up an extraordinarily large fraud gang. On June 10 this year, under the guidance of higher-level public security organs, the Fuling District Public Security Bureau organized more than 300 police forces to go to Hunan and Hubei to carry out arrest work, successfully smashed an extraordinarily large fraud gang that specialized in peddling "slimming and health care products" for the elderly and other groups, destroyed 5 dens involved in the case, arrested 339 criminal suspects, involved more than 290 million yuan, and more than 10,000 victims.

The police investigation found that among the tens of thousands of people who were deceived, the elderly accounted for more than 80%, but for more than a year, only Hu Ying, one of the deceived, chose to call the police. Recently, the reporter conducted an in-depth investigation.

"No diet, no exercise, 3 pounds at a time", "Senior Dietitian" develops "package" for the elderly

Hu Ying, who is 1 meter 7 tall, maintains a weight of about 200 pounds all year round. As bone hyperplasia in both knees increases, walking becomes more and more difficult. When she heard her husband and son say that they wanted to buy her crutches, Hu Ying refused without saying a word. It is difficult to walk, and it is obviously unrealistic to lose weight by exercising.

"No diet, no exercise, 3 pounds at a time." One night in early April, Hu Ying, who was playing with her mobile phone, was attracted by an advertisement. She then scanned the QR code on the advertisement and added a WeChat called "A Diet Body Fiber Official Customer Service Xiaolan".

The next day, under Xiaolan's patient recommendation for up to 5 hours, Hu Ying purchased a special dietary compound nutritious meal with a total value of 799 yuan printed with a well-known brand name. "Don't take it yourself after receiving the goods, I will recommend a consultant to teach you to ensure the efficacy." "Sweet" Xiaolan repeatedly advised.

Immediately, "consultant" Xiao Su added Hu Ying's WeChat. "You can't eat staple foods, you can only eat some vegetables and fruits at most," Xiao Su said, which is to make the effect of nutritious meals better. But the 10-day nutritious meal Hu Ying ate only 1 day, Xiao Su expressed his difficulties: Ms. Hu belongs to a special physique, he is just a general "nutrition consultant", I am afraid it is difficult to be competent, but he can recommend "senior nutritionist" to take over.

Next, "senior nutritionists" Mr. Huang and Ms. Ran took turns on the field. They resorted to psychological tactics by telling "specific examples" that the fat in Hu Ying's body had been broken up, and that if new products were not added to promote metabolism, the oil would return to the various organs and joints of the body through the blood vessels, and not only would it be impossible to walk, but it might also be at risk of amputation.

In a panic, Hu Ying confusedly spent 4180 yuan, 45,000 yuan, and 45,000 yuan to buy three "weight loss packages". By the beginning of May, Hu Ying's weight was 13 pounds lighter than a month ago, but at this time she had not eaten staple food for 1 month, and her physical condition was very bad, and she said that she did not want to continue to take nutritious meals. Upon hearing this, Ms. Ran asked Hu Ying to write a written statement stating that she was responsible for any adverse consequences. At this time, Hu Ying finally realized that he had been deceived.

"Don't say that the money can't be chased back, don't let more people be deceived." On May 14, accompanied by her son, she walked into the police station to call the police.

A corporatized fraud gang with a large number of people involved in the case surfaced, and some victims were defrauded of more than 2 million yuan

After receiving the alarm, the Fuling police found through investigation that the case involved a corporatized fraud gang with a large number of people involved. The Fuling police set up a special case team to investigate the case.

The task force found that from the beginning of this year alone to the occurrence of the case, the weight loss product sent more than 21,000 express delivery messages to all parts of the country. According to the clues they had earlier, the police quickly found a Fuling victim, Zhang Dong (pseudonym). Zhang Dong, like Hu Ying, was attracted by online weight loss advertisements and gradually fell into the trap.

Zhang Dong spent 990 yuan to buy 4 boxes of "dietary body fiber" special dietary compound nutrition meals. After eating for a few days, I found that it really had some effect, so under the guidance of the "senior nutritionist", I bought it 3 times in succession, spending a total of more than 22,000 yuan. When he purchased for the fourth time, Zhang Dong also received a smart scale sent by the other party. According to the requirements of the "senior nutritionist", Zhang Dong took a picture of the measured data and transmitted it to the "assessment". As a result, the "senior nutritionist" informed Zhang Dong that he had "three highs" and asked him to continue to buy new packages to "condition" his body. Zhang Dong felt that he might have been deceived, so he stopped taking nutritious meals.

The police investigation found that the victims were defrauded of as little as a few thousand yuan and as much as more than 2 million yuan. From November 2021 to June this year, Li Xin (pseudonym), who lives in Tongzhou, Beijing, spent 510 yuan, 5,500 yuan, 96,000 yuan, 184,000 yuan, 170,000 yuan, 500,000 yuan, 700,000 yuan and 660,000 yuan to purchase 8 weight loss packages, totaling 2316010 yuan.

"You never suspected the other person was a liar?" The police handling the case inquired. Li Xin said: "They use various cases to prove that if they do not continue to take, they will quickly rebound and become very fat, and they will also get heart disease, diabetes and even cancer." It scared me so much that I had to keep buying the product. ”

More and more victims stated the details of being deceived, and after careful investigation by the police, all the clues pointed to the hunan diet body fiber e-commerce co., ltd. and Hubei shan kangli health technology co., ltd. that had been registered and established. These 2 companies are located in the local bustling area of high-end office buildings, one is located in the science and technology industrial park, usually the doors and windows are closed, the new employees recruited are the relatives and friends of the old employees, never allow non-company personnel to enter, it is very mysterious.

Fraud gangs boast about product efficacy, fabricate success stories, and induce customers to constantly buy new, high-priced products

After fully grasping the criminal facts, evidence and relevant circumstances of the case, on June 10, the special case team mobilized more than 300 police personnel, with the support and cooperation of public security organs in many places, to simultaneously carry out network collection operations, arresting 339 backbone and members of the fraud gang headed by He X, Gui X and others in one fell swoop, seizing more than 1150 mobile phones and computers and a large number of fraudulent "scripts".

After arriving at the case, He X, Gui X and other criminal suspects successively confessed the facts of the crime. The fraud gang is mainly distributed in wuhan and Ezhou, and the division of labor between various departments under each den is clear and cooperative. "They attach great importance to advertising and marketing, and over the past year, the advertising investment has accumulated tens of millions of yuan." Zha Yu, deputy head of the criminal police detachment of the Fuling District Public Security Bureau, said that the fraud gang attracted potential people to take the initiative to consult through a large number of advertisements, and the "customer service" followed up to promote nutritious meals priced at a price of several hundred yuan. In order to induce consumers, in this link, there is only one "diet body fiber" product printed with the name of a well-known brand, and the price belongs to the normal range.

Once the customer has made the first purchase, the "customer service" will lead them to the "nutrition consultant", "senior nutritionist" and "physical planner" in the name of "guided use". They deceive customers by boasting about the strange efficacy of products, fabricating successful cases, etc., and induce customers to continue to buy new high-priced products. Often before the previous course of treatment is completed, the "senior nutritionist" will immediately recommend the next series of products in the name of personal customization, and falsely claim that not taking the product as planned will lead to physical damage and cause psychological panic among customers.

"According to statistics, the fraud gang has prepared hundreds of products." Zha Yu said that the "private customized" weight loss packages mailed to customers are all randomly matched, and the products are all composed of ordinary low-cost foods, nutritional powders, and solid drinks, which do not have weight loss effects. After layers of packaging by fraudsters, these extremely low-cost ordinary foods and drinks are touted as slimming products that can achieve miraculous curative effects, so that the illegal profits of fraud gangs can reach 10 times or even 30 times the cost.

"For more than a year, only one person called the police, and most of the victims did not feel cheated until after the crime." According to Zha Yu, the fraud gang has formulated a strict "risk control system" and has a special public relations team to specially classify the victims, clarify which addresses and groups of people are prohibited from shipping, and avoid risks from the source. In the process of fraud, if the victim is encountered to call the police, he will generally take the initiative to refund the situation to avoid the expansion of the situation. Step-by-step, extremely confusing routines have made many elderly people unaware of being deceived from beginning to end. Some elderly people realize that they have been deceived, but they are worried about their children's blame, and often do not choose to call the police.

All departments should coordinate their efforts and comprehensively manage the situation, and guide the elderly to choose a formal platform to purchase products

"From receiving the alarm to closing the net, it took more than 20 days, the main suspects were arrested, and the evidence chain was also complete." Xu Bin, deputy director of the Fuling District Public Security Bureau, believes that while intensifying the crackdown on pension fraud, all sectors of society should strengthen coordination, strengthen pre-prevention, and resolutely cut off the black hand that reaches out to the "money bag" of the elderly.

Judging from this case, the fraudsters chose to use well-known brand products as a disguise on the basis of casting a wide net. Many victims rush to the brand fame, but step by step fall into the trap. More than 100 kinds of products used for fraud in the later period are also mostly produced by small workshops. Xu Bin said that the relevant functional departments should strengthen supervision and regulation, standardize and rectify all kinds of products produced by OEM, so that fake brand names cannot become a tool for fraudsters. At the same time, increase publicity, let the elderly group scientifically understand health food, choose a formal platform to buy.

"From a realistic point of view, the elderly living alone are more likely to encounter pension fraud." Deng Zhiyong, member of the Chongqing Municipal Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and director of Chongqing Zhiyu Law Firm, believes that all sectors of society should increase their concern and concern for the elderly, especially the elderly living alone. In the case of the elderly's own limited ability to purchase legal services, communities, pension institutions, etc. should try to introduce some public interest lawyer services, and strive to weave a dense anti-fraud protection network for the elderly.

At the same time, all sectors of society should strengthen the publicity of the prevention of pension fraud, and widely publicize and popularize the knowledge of fraud prevention through WeChat groups, broadcasts, manuals, banners and other forms, and further enhance the awareness of fraud prevention for middle-aged and elderly people. Combined with the types of fraud and classic cases that occur frequently, we will publicize and explain the harm and prevention knowledge of fraud to the masses in a targeted manner.

Mei Chuanqiang, dean of the Law School of Southwest University of Political Science and Law, believes that to prevent fraud in the elderly, the first is to further strengthen the publicity and education on the rule of law and enhance the awareness and ability of the elderly to prevent fraud; The second is to further strengthen the management of the network service platform, and promptly clean up and punish false advertisements and telecommunications network fraud information such as so-called health products, endowment insurance, and health care project investments that are specifically aimed at the elderly; Third, it is necessary to further intensify the crackdown and form a deterrent to criminals.

(Liu Zhengning participated in the writing)

People's Daily ( 2022-09-08 12th edition)