In today's era of information explosion, online lending and financial services are becoming increasingly popular, bringing convenience to people's lives, but at the same time, they are also accompanied by a series of problems that cannot be ignored, one of which is the chaos of collection. Recently, a netizen shared his experience of being harassed and threatened by collection calls on the Internet, and what is even more embarrassing is that he encountered misunderstanding and reprimands when seeking help from the police, which quickly aroused widespread attention and discussion in the society.
According to the netizen Xiao Li, he had borrowed money for personal reasons and was temporarily unable to repay it on time due to financial difficulties. Soon after, he began to receive frequent calls from collection agencies, which not only disturbed his life day and night, but also revealed strong threats in his words. During one of the calls, the collector threatened: "Even if you change jobs, we have a way to make you lose them!" Such naked intimidation made netizens feel extremely uneasy and frightened.
Faced with such an arrogant threat, the netizen decided to report the case to the police, hoping to be protected by the law and treated fairly. However, to his surprise, after telling his story, some police officers did not seem to pay enough attention to it, and some even thought that it was an "economic dispute" that did not fall under the jurisdiction of the police, and even admonished him, reminding him to "solve the debt problem by himself". Such a response undoubtedly made netizens who were already in a difficult situation feel even more helpless and disappointed.
The fog of collection is beginning to appear: the frequent intrusion of strange calls: Since March this year, Xiao Li's life has been broken by a series of strange phone calls. Without exception, these calls were from collection agencies, claiming that he had not repaid the loan on an online platform and asking him to repay it as soon as possible. However, what puzzled Xiao Li was that he had never applied for a loan on any online platform, let alone a loan that had not been repaid. Faced with this sudden "debt", Xiao Li felt both surprised and helpless.
No way to verify the information: Unreasonable refusal of the collector: In order to find out the truth, Xiao Li tried to communicate with the collector many times, hoping that they could provide relevant evidence or information to prove his "debt". However, the collector's response surprised Xiao Li. When Xiao Li asked the other party to provide identity information, the other party refused on the grounds of "protecting privacy"; When Xiao Li asked the name of the online loan platform involved, the other party asked: "Don't you know what platform you applied for a loan on?" This obvious logical fallacy made Xiao Li angry; What is even more unacceptable to Xiao Li is that even when he asked to see the agreement or contract entrusted by the online loan platform for collection, as well as evidence to prove that he "owes money", he was unreasonably rejected by the collector.
It is difficult to prove his innocence: bank transactions are difficult to resist "false evidence": In order to completely get rid of this unwarranted disaster, Xiao Li even offered to provide all bank transaction records in recent years as proof to prove that he has never made any online loan transactions. However, the collector scoffed at this, insisting that their information was the most accurate and that the bank statements provided by Xiao Li were "useless". This attitude of ignoring the facts and only admitting "false evidence" made Xiao Li feel helpless and desperate.
The road to reporting the case was bumpy, and the police response was disappointing: However, Xiao Li Zhang's road to reporting the crime was not as smooth as he had hoped. When he told the police hopefully about his ordeal, he was chilled by the attitude of some of the officers. They do not seem to treat the matter as a serious offense, but simply classify it as an "economic dispute", arguing that it does not fall under the jurisdiction of the police. What's more, he also admonished Xiao Li, reminding him to "solve the debt problem by himself", as if all this was caused by Xiao Li himself.
Helplessness and disappointment are intertwined, where is the justice? Such a response undoubtedly made Xiao Li feel even more helpless and disappointed. He originally thought that the police would be his most solid backing and would provide him with necessary help and protection when he was subjected to illegal violations. However, reality taught him that sometimes, the door to the law was not always open to him. He began to question how ordinary people could defend their rights and interests in the face of arrogant threats from collection agencies. Is it really necessary to "settle it yourself", as the collector says?
However, Xiao Li's story is not an isolated case. On the other side of the network, there may be countless people like him, who are suffering from unsolicited collection calls. These collection calls, often accompanied by threats and intimidation, make the victim live in fear and anxiety. However, when victims try to seek legal help, they are often met with a helpless response of "self-resolution". Behind this response lies the practical problem of the collection industry using Internet technology to carry out illegal activities.
The Truth Behind Fake Numbers: The reason why the police find it tricky when dealing with such cases is largely because of the internet dialing software used behind these collection calls. The software is able to generate and call fake numbers at will, so that the victim's phone is displayed with an untraceable number string. These numbers are simply not available in the operator's database, so the police face a huge technical challenge in solving the case. Not only do they need to trace down the source of these fake numbers, but they also need to delve into the criminal network behind them, which is undoubtedly a difficult and complex task.
A double test of technology and law: even if the police decide to open an investigation, it does not mean that the case can be successfully solved. The difficulties of technical detection, the cunning and concealment of criminals, and the lag of laws and regulations all make the detection process of such cases full of uncertainties. The police need to constantly improve their technical level to adapt to the escalation of criminal methods; At the same time, it is also necessary to improve and support relevant laws and regulations to provide more powerful legal weapons for combating such crimes.
Xu Liang, a media person, said that when the police deal with cases like Xiao Li, they often let Xiao Li "solve it by himself", which is actually the helplessness of the police in the face of multiple technical challenges and dilemmas, especially in the case of police stations and public security agencies in many areas where the technical support is not perfect, which directly leads to many difficulties in dealing with online collection cases. Among them, the tracking of fake numbers is the first problem. Collection agencies use internet dialing software to generate fake numbers that are not available in the operator's database, making it difficult for the police to trace the real caller. In addition, the dynamic nature of IP addresses poses a significant challenge for tracking. Even if you can locate an IP address, you may not be able to determine the actual location due to the use of technical means such as VPNs and proxy servers.
The fragility of electronic evidence: easy to tamper with and difficult to preserve: Electronic evidence often plays a crucial role in online collection cases. However, Xu Liang pointed out that this electronic evidence can be easily tampered with or destroyed. Once critical information such as chat logs and transfer records are compromised, it can lead to a deadlock in the case. At the same time, the preservation of electronic evidence also faces many difficulties. How to ensure the authenticity and integrity of evidence and prevent it from being tampered with or lost in the process of transmission and storage is a problem that the police need to solve urgently.
The cunning of collection agencies: gang crime and anti-investigation methods: online collection agencies often have the characteristics of gang crimes, with a clear division of labor and tacit cooperation between members. Not only do they use forged identity documents and bank accounts to operate, but they are also adept at using anti-detection methods to evade police crackdowns. These agencies may frequently change contact information, use encrypted communication tools, and develop well-thought-out action plans, making it extremely difficult for the police to investigate.
Xu Liang emphasized that online collection is often carried out through electronic means such as phone calls and text messages, which makes evidence collection a major problem. The perishability and tampering nature of electronic evidence, as well as the diversity of storage media, have brought great challenges to the investigation work of the police. When victims try to preserve evidence, they often find that call logs have been deleted, text messages have been emptied, and even related files in their phones have been deleted or modified by programs from unknown sources. In addition, in order to evade legal sanctions, banks or online lending platforms will deliberately destroy or tamper with relevant evidence, further increasing the difficulty of police investigations.
Legal provisions: The dilemma of the ambiguous area: Due to the rapid development of the Internet finance industry, the formulation of relevant laws and regulations often lags behind the emergence of practical problems, resulting in many collection behaviors being in a gray area in the law. This ambiguity not only makes it difficult for debtors to protect their rights, but also makes it difficult for the police to effectively crack down on illegal acts in the process of law enforcement.
Cross-departmental collaboration: The dilemma of information silos: Poor cross-departmental collaboration is also one of the important factors restricting the police from detecting online collection cases. Online collection involves many fields such as finance, telecommunications, and justice, and requires close cooperation between multiple departments to form an effective joint force. However, in practice, due to problems such as poor information sharing between departments and imperfect coordination mechanisms, it is difficult for the police to obtain sufficient support and cooperation in the investigation process, which affects the efficiency of case detection.
Privacy Invasion: The Double-edged Sword of Electronic Contracts: In a serious way, Xu Liang exposed the behavior of some online lending platforms that use the advantages of electronic contracts to wantonly infringe on the privacy of debtors. These platforms not only arbitrarily modify the terms of electronic contracts to leave a way for themselves to evade their responsibilities, but also illegally obtain the debtor's personal privacy information, such as mobile phone location, photo albums, call records and recording permissions. Once this information falls into the hands of criminals, it will seriously threaten the personal safety and peace of life of the debtor. Xu Liang pointed out that many netizens reported that they received collection calls as soon as they changed jobs, which was the result of online lending platforms using these private information for accurate collection.
Conclusion: This incident reflects the complexity and challenges faced by the police in dealing with online collection cases. First of all, online collection is often carried out through electronic means such as phone calls and text messages, which is difficult to collect evidence and is easy to be tampered with or destroyed. Second, some collectors take advantage of the ambiguity of the legal provisions to collect by playing the side ball, which makes it difficult for the police to define the legality of their actions in the process of law enforcement. In addition, because online collection cases involve multiple fields such as finance, telecommunications, and justice, it requires multi-departmental coordination, but in reality, the cross-departmental coordination mechanism is not perfect, resulting in many difficulties in the process of investigation and evidence collection.