Buying and selling WeChat accounts "fast money"? Beware of the Torture!

"Sell WeChat account plus me, 50 yuan / piece"

"Add me for a long time"

"400 yuan to sell a WeChat account"

Can WeChat accounts still be sold?

Thinking that he had found a "shortcut to riches"

I don't know......

Recently, the Shanghai Jinshan District People's Court (hereinafter referred to as the Jinshan District People's Court) concluded a case of buying and selling WeChat accounts to help information network criminal activities.

Case review

In June 2023, after Xia saw an advertisement in the QQ group to buy a WeChat account at a high price, he sold his idle WeChat account and earned 400 yuan. After discovering this "business opportunity", Xia began to "recruit troops", and successively recruited nine people including Tang and Xiao to jointly sell WeChat accounts.

Xia and others mainly use two business methods, one is the intermediary purchase and resale profit, that is, buy a WeChat account from the intermediary of the QQ group and then sell it to the upper family, from which to earn about 50 yuan in benefits; The second is to deceive the "No. Nong" account to sell for profit, Xia and others defrauded the "No. Nong" account password under the guise of renting the account for a fee, and then sold the account to an Internet fraud gang, and sold a WeChat account to earn about 500 yuan in benefits.

Xia and others have a complete set of processes to obtain the trust of "No. Farmers" and defraud "No. Farmers" accounts. First of all, Xia and others will pretend to be regular companies on various social platforms to attract "number farmers" to add docking WeChat accounts in the name of receiving Internet celebrity avatars and photos for free, and then publish advertisements for renting WeChat accounts for a fee in WeChat, agreeing to pay a deposit first, and then pay the balance one month after the lease expires. After the "No. Nong" obtained the deposit, he sent the login password to Xia and others, and Xia and others immediately changed the password after obtaining the password, and blacked out the "No. Nong" and no longer paid the final payment. After obtaining the account, Xia and others organized to sell the account to an online fraud gang to collect high benefit fees.

From June to October 2023, in just five months, the organizer Xia obtained more than 50 yuan in illegal gains; Other members can earn benefits ranging from 30 yuan to 50 yuan for each WeChat account sold, and a single member can make a profit of more than 15,000 yuan to more than 80,000 yuan during the operation period.

The victim Liu Moumou reported the case due to online fraud, and the public security organs arrested Xia, Tang and others on November 30, 2023 after investigation, and the rest of the criminal suspects were arrested one after another, and after arriving at the case, they all truthfully confessed the facts of the crime, expressed their plea and accepted punishment, signed a plea affidavit, and returned their illegal gains.

People's court adjudication

After trial, the Jinshan District People's Court found that the defendants Xia, Tang, Xiao, Yuan, Xia, Yuan, Zhou, Yuan, Xia, and Cai clearly knew that others were using information networks to commit crimes, but still provided assistance, and the circumstances were serious, and their conduct constituted the crime of aiding information network criminal activities.

The 10 defendants jointly participated in the criminal act of selling WeChat accounts to an online fraud gang, which is a joint crime. Defendant Xia X played a major role in the joint crime and was the principal offender. Defendants Tang, Xiao, Yuan, Xia, Yuan, Zhou, Yuan, Xia, and Cai played a minor role in the joint crime, and are accomplices, and shall be given a lighter punishment. Ten defendants who truthfully confessed and voluntarily admitted guilt and accepted punishment may be given a lenient or lenient disposition.

Based on the facts and circumstances of this case and the defendants' status and role in the joint crime, the Jinshan District People's Court sentenced Xia, Tang, Xiao, Yuan, Xia, Yuan, Zhou, Yuan, Xia, and Cai to fixed-term imprisonment ranging from six months to one year and eight months, or a suspended sentence, and fines ranging from 5,000 to 20,000 yuan.

After the first-instance verdict, the public prosecution did not protest, and none of the defendants appealed, and the verdict has now taken effect.

What the judge said

WeChat has become one of the most commonly used social software, which meets people's online social needs but also is coveted by some criminals, resulting in illegal transactions with WeChat accounts as the target. This kind of illegal transaction has given rise to a number of black industries that rely exclusively on the sale of WeChat accounts for profit, which have been obtained by online fraud groups and used in telecommunications network fraud, defrauding victims of money, and bringing great losses to individuals and society.

1. Interpretation: Selling WeChat accounts to criminals is an act of assistance in the crime of "aiding trust".

The full name of the crime of "aiding trust" is "the crime of aiding information network criminal activities", which is a new crime added to the "Amendment (9) to the Criminal Law of People's Republic of China in 2015", which refers to the act of knowing that others use information networks to commit crimes, providing them with technical support such as Internet access, server hosting, network storage, and communication transmission, or providing assistance such as advertising and promotion, payment and settlement, etc. Criminals illegally obtaining WeChat accounts not only directly threaten the personal safety and property safety of the account subject and related groups, but also undermine social stability and tranquility.

Xia and others, knowing that the resale of WeChat accounts might be used by others for illegal and criminal activities, still purchased or leased a large number of WeChat accounts from others and resold them to make a profit from the price difference, which is an act of assistance in the crime of aiding trust.

2. Vigilance: College students are a key prevention group for crimes related to fraud crimes

In the above case, the average age of the defendants was 23 years old, and the youngest was only 20 years old, and they never thought that they would go to prison for a small business, they thought they had found a good opportunity to make quick money through the introduction of a friend, but in the end they were criminally punished for breaking the law.

College students and recent graduates are easily tempted by interests and inadvertently become perpetrators of crimes related to telecommunications network fraud. This is because this kind of group lacks social experience, has a weak sense of law, or has a difficult family of origin, or is tempted by the world of flowers, and is prone to blind consumption, resulting in a comparison mentality, and under the bewitchment of "low cost and high return", they have become "tool people" for telecom network fraud. From high-spirited teenagers to accomplices in fraud crimes, they will not only bear legal responsibility, but also seriously affect their future education, employment, social life, etc., which is a sad situation. Therefore, it is necessary to remind students to keep their eyes open in their daily lives, improve their awareness of network security, tighten the strings of the law, and do not take the evil as a small thing, so as to avoid becoming accomplices in fraud crimes.

III. Reminders: Raise awareness of the rule of law online, and guard personal account information

By analyzing a number of telecommunications network fraud cases handled by the Jinshan District People's Court, we found that criminal teams often obtained phone cards and WeChat accounts used to commit fraud crimes through account selling gangs like this one. Therefore, everyone should keep their personal account information, which will help cut off the criminal chain of telecommunication network fraud from the source.

In daily life, the public should strengthen their awareness of personal information protection, properly keep personal identity documents, bank cards and other important items, and report the loss in a timely manner after being lost to prevent it from being used by criminals. At the same time, the public should raise their awareness of the rule of law online, and even more must know the law, understand the law, abide by the law, keep the password of their own online accounts, and do not sell, rent, or provide their own WeChat accounts, QQ accounts, and other online accounts to others for use, and do not sell or lend phone cards, bank cards, WeChat, Alipay, and other accounts to others for small profits.

Links to legal provisions

Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China

Article 287-2:Where it is clearly known that others are using information networks to commit crimes, providing them with technical support such as internet access, server hosting, network storage, or communication transmission, or providing assistance such as for advertising and promotion, payment and settlement, and the circumstances are serious, a sentence of up to three years imprisonment or short-term detention is to be given, and/or a fine.

Source: Shanghai Rule of Law Voice Rule of Law Pudong Comprehensive Editor