Someone is in the group
I sent an App download link
He said that he could bind his credit card through the app
Then cash out the money in your credit card
and go directly to your own debit card
……
Wang and others organized technical personnel to tackle key problems and developed an App specifically for credit card users to cash out and repay on their behalf, and promoted the App through a number of downstream companies. In more than two years, the app developed by Wang and others has attracted 3.01 million registered members, with a total of 154 million transactions and a total amount of 71.5 billion yuan in cash and repayment. In December 2023, the Huai'an District Procuratorate of Huai'an City, Jiangsu Province, prosecuted 16 people including Wang on suspicion of illegal business operations. A few days ago, the court held a trial of the case in accordance with the law and will announce the verdict at a later date.
The user reports the crime
One day in September 2021, Xiaohui (pseudonym), who lives in Huai'an, Jiangsu, was pulled into a shopping group by a friend. Soon after, someone posted an App download link in the group, saying that they could bind their credit cards through the App, and then cash out the money in the credit card and transfer it directly to their savings card.
After Xiaohui downloaded the app, she bound a credit card to a savings card, and then applied for a cash out of 100 yuan, and the money was immediately transferred to the savings card. Seeing that the App was so easy to use, Xiaohui logged in to the App twice and cashed out 2,000 yuan. Later, after being reminded by a friend, Xiaohui realized that this matter might be illegal, so she went to the public security organ to report the case.
According to Xiaohui's introduction, the police found that the main function of the App is to cash out the credit card and defer the repayment of the arrears due. After the user registers with his or her real name, he or she can share the registration QR code with others, and after the other party registers successfully, he will automatically become a downline member of the sharer, and the upline sharer will receive a certain percentage of rewards.
According to the information they have, the public security organs believe that the app has been suspected of committing a crime by helping users cash out their credit cards and making illegal profits without real transactions. In September 2021, the public security organs opened a case for investigation on suspicion of illegal business operations. After preliminary investigation, it was found that the App was operated by an information technology company in Hefei, Anhui Province, and the person in charge of the company was Zhao. In October of the same year, the police arrested Zhao, and at the same time arrested 3 sales executives of the company and 5 technical leaders including Xu. After interrogation, the persons involved in the case truthfully confessed the facts of their crimes.
A "powerful" app
A few years ago, Zhao met Xu while working in Shanghai. One day in June 2019, Xu told Zhao that his company had developed a new app that could be cashed out with a credit card. After listening to Xu's introduction, Zhao spent 50,000 yuan to buy this App called "True Love Card" from Xu. In July 2020, Xu contacted Zhao again, saying that he had just joined a new company, and in addition to the traditional cash-out, an App currently developed by the company also added a new "repayment" function, that is, you can use part of the remaining amount in the credit card to postpone the amount to be repaid in the current period through technical operations.
Zhao was moved again, and agreed with Xu that Zhao would be responsible for marketing and pay all the funds required for the company's operation; Xu became a shareholder of the technology and was responsible for the development and maintenance of the App, and the profits were equally shared between the two. In December 2020, Zhao registered an information technology company in Hefei, Anhui Province, rented office space, and purchased computers and other office equipment.
Shortly thereafter, under Xu's leadership, an app dedicated to credit card cashing was officially launched. Zhao immediately recruited a group of employees through the Internet to promote the app externally. Zhao explained that the company has two sources of profit, one is the handling fee of about 0.6% charged by customers when cashing out, plus a fixed "number" fee of 1.5 yuan per transaction; The other is to repackage the app into a new app and sell it for 60,000 to 120,000 yuan.
During the interrogation, investigators found that although Zhao was the person in charge of the company, he knew nothing about the technical issues of developing the app, and all of them were operated by Xu independently. Who developed these apps? And what is the technical principle? With doubts, investigators interrogated Xu and found that the App and other apps sold after the "shell change" were produced, operated, and maintained by a network technology company in Shanghai. In October 2021, the police went to Shanghai and Guangzhou to carry out their work, and arrested the person in charge of the company, Wang, and a number of technical personnel. At this point, an upstream and downstream criminal gang surfaced.
The case was solved
In October 2018, Wang joined a company that sold credit card cash-out apps, and soon became the company's marketing executive. Later, Wang introduced his fellow villager Xu to his company and made him a member of the team. At the beginning of 2019, Wang had the idea of leaving the company to go it alone, and invited Luo, the technical leader of the company, to join, and Luo immediately agreed. In April 2019, Wang, Luo and others established a network technology company in Shanghai, and Xu also joined and served as the head of the sales team.
In order to avoid risks, Wang transferred a shell company from others, and then deliberately hung the two teams of the marketing department and the technical department in two different companies to undertake business under different names, and Wang served as the general manager of the two companies. In order to quickly open up the market, Wang's new company launched and promoted the app through various platforms. For a time, Wang's business was very hot.
So, how exactly does this app realize the credit card cashing and repayment business? According to Luo, after the user initiates a cash-out application in the App, the App will make up a consumption scene and report it to the bank, and the bank mistakenly thinks it is real consumption, so it allocates the "consumption" amount to the "merchants", and these merchants are actually companies tied to the App, and the company receives the money from the bank, and then pays the customer after deducting a certain rate, so as to realize the credit card cash-out operation. The repayment function is that after the App receives the user's instructions, it will divide the arrears of the user's credit card into several small repayment plans for the current month, and then the intelligent repayment software in the App will automatically swipe out the remaining amount in the credit card, and then return the user's credit card after deducting the corresponding handling fee, so as to complete a small repayment.
In order to continuously expand the scale of users, Wang et al. also designed a hierarchical distribution system, once users download and use the app to cash out and repay credit cards, the sharer will receive a certain percentage of the commission. As of the time of the case, the company operated by Wang had sold more than 300 credit card cash-out apps, with a total amount of 71.5 billion yuan and illegal profits of more than 4,700 yuan.
In June 2023, the case was transferred to the Huai'an District Procuratorate for review and prosecution. After review, the procurator found that Wang and others illegally engaged in fund payment and settlement business without the approval of the relevant state departments, disrupting market order, and the circumstances were particularly serious, and their actions were suspected of the crime of illegal business operation. In December 2023, the Huai'an District Procuratorate prosecuted 16 people including Wang on suspicion of illegal business operations. The court recently held a trial of the case in accordance with the law and will announce the verdict at a later date. (Supreme People's Procuratorate)