The website used to check the construction "professional qualification certificate" is actually counterfeit, and the certificate queried is also fake - on the Internet, a gang set up a fake government website, specializing in providing "copycat certificate" inspection services, and imported a total of 5,051 pieces of fake certificate information, making illegal profits of more than 200,000 yuan.
Recently, the Jiang'an District Procuratorate of Wuhan City, Hubei Province, introduced that the verdict of a case of illegal use of information networks undertaken by the procuratorate has now taken effect. Wu, Pan, and Song were sentenced to 7 months in prison and fined by the court for the crime of illegally using information networks.
A call led to a fake government website
"On the 'Wuhan Personnel and Talent Service Network', is the professional and technical title certificate that can be queried real?" On January 13, 2022, the staff of the Wuhan Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau received a consultation call.
The staff noted that the website was not a subordinate website of the Wuhan Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau, nor was it an officially designated website for information query of professional and technical title certificates. The staff noted down the URL provided by the inquirer and informed the other party of the official inquiry channel.
The "Wuhan Personnel and Talent Service Network" developed by the gang involved in the case. Photo courtesy of Wuhan Jiang'an District Procuratorate
Subsequently, the staff member logged on to the "Wuhan Personnel and Personnel Service Network" and found that the website had windows such as "professional title inquiry" and "professional qualification inquiry" in a conspicuous position on the homepage; the information at the bottom of the web page showed that the organizers were "Wuhan Municipal Affairs Service Center Management Office and Wuhan Municipal Public Resources Transaction Management Office."
After this situation was reported, it attracted great attention from the Professional and Technical Personnel Management Office of Wuhan Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau.
On the same day, the office contacted the E-Government Promotion Department of the Wuhan Municipal Affairs Service and Big Data Administration to ask the other party to verify, and received a reply: the organizer displayed on the website is not true, and the website has no connection with the Wuhan Municipal Affairs Service and Big Data Administration. This means that some people are suspected of illegally using the name of the Professional and Technical Personnel Management Office of the Wuhan Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau to provide false online inquiry and verification services for professional titles.
The staff immediately reported the incident to the police.
The Tazihu Street Police Station of the Jiang'an District Bureau of the Wuhan Municipal Public Security Bureau filed a case for investigation. After research and judgment, it was found that Wu, a man from Nanping, Fujian Province, was suspected of committing a major crime. In July 2023, the police arrested Wu in Nanping City. After interrogation and follow-up investigation, the other two suspects, Pan and Song, were arrested one after another.
Born in 1988, Wu has been engaged in the construction industry for a long time. When interrogated by the police, Wu said that in 2019, some netizens told him that some primary, intermediate and senior qualification certificates such as construction engineers and municipal engineers were "not available on the Internet", and asked him if there was a way to find them on the Internet. Wu learned from a friend that he could "make a website to check these certificates."
Wu found Song, a junior high school classmate, to discuss cooperation. Song is the same age as him, and has been engaged in software development after graduating from junior college.
According to Song's confession, Wu showed him the website of the Wuhan Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau, and proposed to make a similar website, which should have functions such as information display and data query. "Information display" is to let the homepage of the website display some news on the official website of the Wuhan Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau, so that the page layout looks like a government website; "Data Query" is to add the input box of "Title Query" and "Professional Qualification Query", so that people who need to check can enter their ID cards and names to find the "Title" information and "Vocational Qualification Certificate" information.
Song understood that it was illegal to counterfeit government websites, but for a variety of reasons, he agreed to Wu. Song can only do front-end web development and page design, and he then recommended his former colleague Pan, who is good at back-end website development, to Wu.
Pan, born in 1986, was unemployed at that time, with a college education, and a native of Nan'an, Fujian. According to Pan's confession, after learning about the website to be developed from Wu, he realized that this was using an irregular website to verify relevant documents, but Wu told him that he had relevant "qualifications". After summing up, Pan and Song began to develop and design the website.
Soon, Pan and Song set up the "Wuhan Personnel Service Network". In order to make the website appear closer to the official website of the Wuhan Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau, they also set up the "Director's Mailbox", "Online Consultation" and "Online Approval Matters" entrances on the homepage of the website. However, these boards are just set up with icons, and "clicking on it doesn't move at all".
The two counterfeit websites have entered a total of 5,051 pieces of "copycat certificate" information
As the investigation deepened, the police found that the gang used the same means to set up a "Shanxi Personnel Service Network". The servers of both of the phishing websites are located outside of China.
The "Shanxi Personnel and Talent Service Network" developed by the gang involved in the case. Photo courtesy of Wuhan Jiang'an District Procuratorate
After the website was built, Pan handed over the background administrator authority of the website to Wu. Mr. Wu is responsible for entering the relevant information of the fake qualification certificate into the background of the website to form a database for people to query through the entrance of the homepage of the website.
These forgeries cover mechanical engineer certificates, electromechanical engineer certificates, etc. The data information of the certificate includes: certificate number, name, gender, ID number, professional name and professional level of the certificate, evaluation date, and issuing unit. As of the time of the case, a total of 2,956 pieces of certificate information had been entered into the "Wuhan Personnel and Talent Service Network" and 2,095 pieces of information had been entered into the "Shanxi Personnel and Talent Service Network".
Wu explained that the certificate information was sent through the network "online". At first, Wu was reluctant to admit that he knew the certificates were forged, falsely claiming that he "didn't know why the certificates couldn't be found on the government website."
As the police investigation deepened, Wu changed his tune and admitted that he knew that the certificates were fake. He said that he received a reward of forty or fifty yuan for each piece of information entered, and a total of 202,040 yuan was earned from more than 5,000 pieces of information.
According to the background database information of the website involved in the case, the police contacted a number of false certificate holders. However, some people hung up in a hurry after briefly understanding the police's intentions after receiving the phone, while others "did not know that they had a false certificate".
Where do these forged certificates come from?
Gan Xueyi, the undertaker of the case and the prosecutor of the Jiang'an District Procuratorate of Wuhan City, introduced that after investigation, Wu contacted the maker of the fake certificate and used a chat software with the function of "burning after reading". At present, the clues for the "online" of the case are being further excavated.
Prosecutor reminds:
Young people should not leave temptation to chance
According to Pan and Song, after helping Wu build a website, the two received 15,000 yuan and 12,000 yuan respectively from Wu. At first, they also knew that it was illegal to fake government websites, but they thought that they would escape by not participating in the production and sale of fake certificates. I didn't expect to set up an illegal website for 3 years and fall into the legal net.
After the case, Wu's family returned 202,040 yuan of illegal gains on behalf of him. The illegal gains of Pan and Song were also recovered. In court, all three pleaded guilty and accepted punishment in court.
According to Gan Xueyi's analysis, in this case, Wu, Pan, and Song all had the psychology of "taking shortcuts" and "making quick money", and finally went astray and fell into the legal net. "Young people with skills such as software development and web production need to be sober when faced with some temptations. Otherwise, it is very likely that you will be involved in a criminal offense at the slightest thought, and your life will be disgraced by it. ”
Gan Xueyi suggested that for those who have the need for vocational qualification certificates, on the one hand, they should put an end to the "opportunistic" mentality, thinking that they can "easily get the certificate" without passing the examination and only paying money, and on the other hand, they should be down-to-earth, participate in the study through the formal channels announced by the human resources and social security department, and obtain a formal certificate after passing the examination.
Source: An Jian, head of the Central Political and Legal Commission