There are stars starring, the box office is expected to be 700 million yuan, and the income from an investment of 1.2 million yuan can reach 4 million yuan...... It sounds like such a tempting film investment project, but it is actually a scam, more than 3,000 people across the country were fooled, and the amount involved was more than 650 million yuan.
Lanzhou police recently publicly solicited clues about a film and television investment fraud case, involving 4 companies and 12 films. This new type of fraud is very hidden, and many victims remain in the dark after being scammed. The reporter conducted an investigation to uncover the truth of the scam.
More than 3,000 people were killed
The amount involved is more than 650 million yuan
A few days ago, the Lanzhou Municipal People's Procuratorate and the Lanzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau jointly issued a notice to publicly solicit clues on a film and television investment fraud case. A total of 4 companies and 12 films were involved, of which 5 films had already been released.
In 2022, the Lanzhou police will detect a film and television investment fraud case led by Li Moumou. The syndicate orchestrates a trick to entice investors to invest in stocks, and then inflates the film's production costs and box office expectations to induce investors to buy a "share of the revenue" of the film, using only a small portion of the money to pay the film's producer to buy the share, and most of the money is scattered into multiple bank accounts for the criminals to squander.
With the cooperation of public security organs in many places, the special case team smashed a number of dens in Beijing, Shenzhen, Dongguan and other places, and seized a large number of computers, mobile phones, false contracts and scripts on the spot, and the main levels of criminal suspects involved in this case have been arrested and brought to justice.
At present, the case has been transferred to the procuratorate for prosecution, and 45 people have been transferred for review and prosecution, and more than 3,000 victims have been sorted out nationwide, and the amount involved is more than 650 million yuan.
According to Pang Jie, a police officer from the three major teams of the Criminal Police Detachment of the Lanzhou Public Security Bureau, the fraud gang cross-held shares in four companies and began to commit fraud as early as 2019, and the victims were defrauded of more than 700 yuan.
In 2022, the Lanzhou police issued a notice for soliciting clues for the first time in the case. Due to the large number of victims all over the country, in order to effectively and accurately charge crimes and protect the legitimate rights and interests of the victims, the police, together with the procuratorate, again solicited clues on the gang's violations and crimes from the public in January this year.
In 2022, the investigators escorted the suspect back to Lanzhou. (Photo courtesy of Lanzhou Public Security Bureau)
Reveal the secret of film investment fraud routines
According to the police, the case is a fraud case involving new formats, new fields, and new methods, and it is very deceptive.
According to the criminal suspect Li Moumou's confession, they hired a promotion company to attract victims for them, and the promotion company sent people to play the role of professional "mentors" in various stock investment WeChat groups and QQ groups; the stocks they recommended would rise the next day, and some would rise for several days in a row, so as to win the trust of the victims.
In the later stage, the "mentor" used the stock market to decline, the income became less and the risk increased, and it was guided to film project investment. The "mentor" claims to have connections in the film and television industry, and will have several times the income after the movie is released, while exaggerating the cost of film production. In order to deceive trust, the "mentor" led the students to Beijing, nominally to visit large domestic film and television companies, but in fact only allowed to take some photos from the periphery.
"The original investment in a movie was 40 million yuan, and the suspect bought part of the share, but when he signed the agreement with the victim, he exaggerated the total investment several times and defrauded in this way. Pang Jie said.
Li Moumou confessed that taking a certain movie as an example, his Eight Millimeter Culture Company invested 22.1 million yuan and obtained a 45% share. When promoting the film to investors, he claimed that the total investment of the film was 220 million yuan, and 70 million yuan was raised from 670 investors, and a small part of the fraudulent amount was used to pay the film producer to buy shares, and the remaining money was used for fraudulent operations and personal squandering.
Ms. Lin from Lanzhou was a victim. She invested 1.2 million yuan in a movie. At that time, they said that there were stars starring, and the box office was expected to be 700 million yuan. If the box office of the movie can reach 700 million yuan, the income can reach 4 million yuan. But after the movie was released, the box office was less than one million yuan. ”
Compared with common fraud cases, this case is more confusing and deceptive - the film and television projects invested by the victim are real, and many films have been released; the film and television company held by the fraud gang is also a formally established company, and the contract signed with the film producer is also true and valid; but in the agreement signed with the investor, the alleged investment amount far exceeds the actual investment amount of the film, so it is suspected of fraud.
He Xiaodong, deputy director of the Chengguan Branch of the Lanzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau, said that this kind of fraud crime is difficult to be identified by the masses, and the victims think that the investment has failed, and there are fewer people who report the case, and the number of people who take the initiative to report to the public security organs nationwide is less than 100.
Beware of the traps lurking in the film industry
He Xiaodong introduced that in the next step, the police will continue to increase the recovery of funds, dig deep into the property and various accounts under the names of criminal suspects, and investigate large amounts of suspicious funds, especially large cash withdrawals, one by one.
The reporter inquired about the China Judgment Document Network and found that film investment has been repeatedly used by many lawbreakers. In Guiyang City, Guizhou Province, some criminals introduced fake "Bigao Film and Television" investment projects in WeChat groups, lured victims to download the Bigao Film and Television App with high returns, and recharged to purchase false investment and wealth management products such as movie copyrights set up in the app, so that the victims could obtain high returns in a short period of time, and deceived the victims into continuing to recharge;
Li Wenbo, a lawyer at Shaanxi Vaillant Law Firm, said that some institutions or individuals deliberately took advantage of the general public's unfamiliarity with the production, distribution and operation of cultural and creative products to carry out false publicity, conceal the share and consideration of the real transaction target, attract inexperienced investors to enter the game, and raise a large amount of funds, and their behavior is suspected of constituting the crime of fraud.
Chen Weizhong, a producer in the film and television industry, said that criminal gangs defraud in the name of buying and selling film shares, which not only causes a large number of victims, but also has a negative impact on the healthy development of the film market.
Chen Weizhong said that film investment is a high-risk, high-return industry, and laws and regulations should be further improved to regulate film investment behavior, especially the need to improve the information disclosure mechanism; producers should disclose their own qualifications and real investment amounts, so that investors can clearly understand the terms and details of the investment, and minimize investment risks.
Dong Gaosheng, a lawyer at Beijing Xinnuo Law Firm, suggested that ordinary investors should enhance their awareness of risks and not believe the investment advice of strangers on the Internet, and should be cautious in investing in projects that they are not familiar with and have complex legal relationships, so as to avoid being deceived.
Source: Xinhua News Agency