Mr. Zhao is 40 years old and lives in Shenzhen. A few months ago, some friends told him that someone on the Internet had pictured his photo P as an officer, and named him "Zhao Shengli" to chat with female netizens.
Since then, more and more victims have found Mr. Zhao, claiming that they were defrauded by telecommunications for chatting with "Zhao Shengli", and lost tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of yuan.
The photo was deceived by Officer P
The victim finds himself and is fooled
"Today, someone found my own account on Xiaohongshu, and after chatting with me, I confirmed that the person who chatted with her before was a liar, but fortunately, this person contacted me in time and was not deceived." On February 11, Mr. Zhao told Red Star News.
In recent months, Mr. Zhao has received private messages from more than 20 people on platforms such as Xiaohongshu and Douyin to confirm whether he is "Zhao Shengli".
In the first half of last year, a friend sent Mr. Zhao some chat records, showing Mr. Zhao wearing a "military uniform", and even an "officer ID" and "ID card" printed with Mr. Zhao's ID photo.
Mr. Zhao's image in film and television works, photo provided by interviewee
"Some people have stolen my photos on many social platforms before, perhaps to make friends easier, but it was the first time I encountered it when I was pictured as an officer. The photos I post can be seen by others, so it's not hard to copy them. Mr. Zhao said that he had accounts on Xiaohongshu, Douyin, Kuaishou and Weibo, and after a while, a stranger found him through Mr. Zhao's own account, asked Mr. Zhao if he was "Zhao Shengli", and said that he had been cheated of money.
Since then, more and more people have found Mr. Zhao himself and confirmed his identity. Almost all of these people are women, some have been cheated out of money by "Zhao Shengli", and some have found Mr. Zhao for verification after feeling that the other party is suspicious.
When he graduated from university, Mr. Zhao did serve in the army, but he was discharged after the completion of compulsory service, and he had no officer experience, and from the photos provided by these people, it can be seen that not only the image of Mr. Zhao wearing a "military uniform", but even his "officer card" and "identity card".
"This is the P picture, for example, there is a photo of me wearing a 'military uniform', which I took while sitting in front of a table in 2020, but the scammer only took my face, and P became the image of a military uniform photo."
Photo courtesy of Mr. Zhao himself (above) with the "officer photo" of the scam victim P Cheng
Play the emotional card and show sympathy
But only voice calls reject video
Ms. Zhou from Hubei met through a dating app and "Zhao Shengli". At first, she was indeed attracted by the honest image of "Zhao Shengli".
Without a few words, "Zhao Shengli" said that he was an officer, and chat dating software with a large number of users such as Tantan and WeChat could not be used, and suggested that Ms. Zhou download a relatively "niche" chat software and start their "communication" on it.
"He told me that his parents had died, that his sister had died because of poverty and malnutrition in her family when she was a child, and that she had been married before, but that her lover had died of cancer a few years ago. Now he is the only one left, he is a 'major'. Ms. Zhou recalled the communication with "Zhao Shengli", and various details were vividly remembered. "Zhao Shengli" once told her that after the Spring Festival in 2023, he will change jobs from the army, and he can choose to resettle in Hubei after the transfer.
During the chat, Ms. Zhou was touched in her heart. "His image is really good, it makes people feel very safe, and he will often call me, especially when talking about his background, I will sympathize with him, he is very good at playing the emotional card."
During the chat, Ms. Zhou also suspected the identity of "Zhao Shengli", and she tried to use the search software to find the photo of "Zhao Shengli", but found no flaws. When asked why "Zhao Shengli" could not make a video with himself, the other party said that he was a reconnaissance unit and could not video according to the regulations.
"Zhao Shengli" sent an "officer photo" to the deceived woman. Photo courtesy of interviewee
Scam escalation
The woman was cheated of nearly 100,000
After chatting for nearly 10 days, "Zhao Shengli" told Ms. Zhou that one of his former comrades-in-arms was doing futures, but because he was in the army, he could not use his mobile phone to trade, so he needed Ms. Zhou's help to complete the operation.
Ms. Zhou said that at that time, she could see that his account had 400,000 yuan at the beginning, and then because of futures trading, the account increased every day, and the highest time was more than 1 million.
Later, "Zhao Shengli" told Ms. Zhou that he helped Ms. Zhou also register an account, and she can also try futures trading.
Because she had developed trust in "Zhao Shengli", Ms. Zhou first deposited 20,000 yuan into it, and indeed could see that the amount on the account was increasing, and 20,000 yuan could sometimes "increase" more than 6,000 yuan a day.
"At this time, I felt that he was not lying to me, and he invested more and more money in it, and did not withdraw any more, and finally there was about 100,000 yuan."
At the same time, more and more "Zhao Shengli" victims have contacted Mr. Zhao himself. So, Mr. Zhao posted a clarification on his Xiaohongshu account, reminding everyone not to be deceived by "Zhao Shengli". At the end of January this year, Ms. Zhou unexpectedly saw the content of Mr. Zhao's account on Xiaohongshu.
After repeated confirmation with Mr. Zhao, Ms. Zhou finally realized that the "Zhao Shengli" she knew was a liar. At that time, she had not yet broken all this, because she hoped to get back her nearly 100,000 "investment", but when she went to ask "Zhao Shengli" for money, she found that the 100,000 yuan could not be returned.
"He even wanted me to invest another 50,000, saying that I could invest another 50,000 to get the previous 100,000 back, at this time I already knew that it was a scam, and there was no hope of 100,000 yuan, so I had a showdown with 'Zhao Shengli'." Ms. Zhou said that after discovering that the scam was exposed, the scammer was still very arrogant, saying that she was "soft-hearted" to Ms. Zhou, and then blocked Ms. Zhou.
After the scam was exposed, "Zhao Shengli" actually claimed that he had a "good conscience"
Police Reminder:
As soon as you start talking about money, stop the chat
"I feel like there has been more than one wave of people using my photos and the name 'Zhao Shengli' to commit telecom fraud." Mr. Zhao said.
In recent months, more and more victims have found Mr. Zhao. Some people said that they were deceived by thousands, some were tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands, and some were more fortunate to find flaws after chatting with "Zhao Shengli", and finally found Mr. Zhao and verified the information, and stopped the loss in time.
The appearance of "Zhao Shengli" added a lot of troubles to Mr. Zhao himself. He said that although he is also a victim, when he hears these things of the deceived, he still blames himself and feels that he has become an "accomplice". "I repeatedly told everyone on my account that once I encounter 'Zhao Shengli', call the police immediately."
A few days ago, Mr. Zhao received a call from the police in his hometown of Guangyuan, Sichuan, who told him that many victims from other places had called the police because of the "Zhao Shengli" fraud, and the police in many places asked the Guangyuan police for assistance after comparing the photos on the Internet. On February 10, Mr. Zhao, who had just returned to his hometown to run errands, came to the Criminal Investigation Brigade of the Qingchuan County Public Security Bureau to communicate with the police again.
Li Tong, a police officer of the Taiyanshan Public Security Branch of the Wuzhong City Public Security Bureau in Ningxia, whose screen name is "Tongtong Police Officer", has attracted millions of fans because of his focus on anti-fraud. In order to let more people avoid being deceived by "Zhao Shengli", not long ago, he also conducted a video connection with Mr. Zhao on the Internet and conducted an anti-fraud propaganda live broadcast.
Li Tong said that during the live broadcast, many women said that they had encountered "Zhao Shengli", and one netizen said that he had been deceived by "Zhao Shengli" for more than 4 million. Li Tong told Red Star News that they had also encountered pretending to be soldiers or using fake military photos after retouching pictures to engage in telecommunications fraud, but they had never encountered such repeated use as Mr. Zhao's photos. Perhaps because Mr. Zhao's image is indeed better, scammers feel that the "success rate" is high, so they use it repeatedly, and even do not change the name "Zhao Shengli".
"In fact, we repeatedly said when we were fighting fraud, it is okay to make friends and chat online, but once the other party starts to mention money, or hopes to make some financial transactions and investments, it is almost certainly a scam." Li Tong especially reminded that you must be cautious when making friends online and do not have financial dealings with each other.
Red Star News reporters learned from some network platform staff that once someone reports that if a user uses fake photos or false identities to commit fraud, the platform will be banned and other treatments as soon as possible, but to identify whether the photos sent by users are themselves and the purpose of publishing retouching, most platforms cannot fully intervene effectively.
Source/Red Star News
Editor/Liao Yunqing
Review/Qiao Hong
Executive Producer/Zhou Zhifei