In January 2021, Zhu Ling, who is about to graduate from college, is immersed in the excitement of playing Female No. 4, and her only worry is that as a newcomer, the assistant director of the crew will have to arrange 4 assistants for her, will it be a little too much?
But the assistant director replied to her: "It's okay, the female number one still has 8 bodyguards." So Zhu Ling was relieved, sent the assistant fee to be made up to the assistant director, and continued to wait for the boot.
From Lady 4
Zhu Ling attends an art academy in Beijing and hopes to find her first job before graduation.
In December 2020, Zhu Ling downloaded an APP through a friend's introduction, and she heard that many crews were posting information on recruiting actors in this APP.
After some browsing, Zhu Ling saw that there is a web drama called "The First Princess" that will start on January 15, 2021, and the crew is currently casting and planning to shoot in Xiangshan and Hengdian. The crew also left a phone call from deputy director Xie Pengfei. Zhu Ling felt that this was an opportunity, so she added Xie Pengfei's WeChat.
After adding WeChat, Zhu Ling sent Xie Pengfei a resume and a video of self-introduction, and the other party felt that her conditions were still good, promising to let her play the role of a "lady" in "The First Princess", who needed to follow the group for more than 20 days, with a film remuneration of 30,000 yuan, and said that she would first pay 890 yuan in insurance premiums. Zhu Ling felt that 890 yuan was nothing compared to the film remuneration, and then transferred money to Xie Pengfei through WeChat.
Xie Pengfei and Zhu Ling often used "old sister" and "iron" to call Zhu Ling when chatting, which seemed very kind. Occasionally, Xie Pengfei would send Zhu Ling some small videos while driving, saying that he was on his way to Hengdian, which made Zhu Ling more convinced that the other party was an "industry insider".
On December 30, Xie Pengfei said that Zhu Ling was given a more important role, and the film remuneration rose to 150,000 yuan, but in the same way, she needed to pay the insurance of assistants, stand-ins and others and the taxes of her film remuneration. Zhu Ling complied.
Half a month later, Xie Pengfei said that the cost of the heroine changed actors was reduced, and the money saved was shared equally among other actors, so Zhu Ling's salary increased to 450,000 yuan. Zhu Ling did not suspect it and paid the tax corresponding to the new 300,000 yuan of film remuneration.
During this period, Xie Pengfei repeatedly postponed the start of filming on the grounds of the epidemic, the replacement of actors or directors, and the fact that the procedures had not been completed.
In the middle of January this year, Zhu Ling learned that she could actually play the female No. 4 of "The First Princess", and the film remuneration increased to 750,000 yuan, but she also had to pay personal income tax. Xie Pengfei also offered to let her play a role in another online movie, and then she could participate in a theatrical movie.
Zhu Ling thought about herself as a newcomer, and she was not from the acting department, and she was a little worried about whether she could be qualified for female No. 4. Xie Pengfei has always encouraged her, replying to her, "There are many plays in this drama, and you can stay because you are a director and can bear hardships." ”
From Ya Gui to Female No. 4, in addition to the rising salary, the number of Zhu Ling's assistants is also increasing. On the day he learned that he could play the female No. 4, Xie Pengfei said that the assistants assigned to Zhu Ling changed from 2 to 4, and the various fees that needed to be paid to the assistants became more.
Zhu Ling was a little worried that she would be said to be playing a big card, and asked Xie Pengfei: "Are other leading actors too?" I'm afraid I'm a new person, and others don't look good. The next day, she reiterated her views, and the reply she got was, "I want noodles."
Screenshot of Zhu Ling's WeChat chat with "Xie Dao". (Image source: Courtesy of the interviewee)
In this way, Zhu Ling not only had to pay the taxes and fees of the film remuneration and her own various insurances, but also had to pay for the assistants, bodyguards, exclusive makeup artists, drivers and other staff.
Xie Pengfei sent Zhu Ling a "assistant" WeChat collection QR code, and also instructed her to remember to send him a screenshot every time she transferred the account.
There are only 10 episodes of the script
After the incident, Zhu Ling recalled that Xie Pengfei actually did not only collect money and not do things, in addition to repeatedly finalizing with her the dress dress to be used to attend events and walk the red carpet, he also sent her a script with only the first 10 episodes, called "Need for Palace Girl 2".
The script is mainly about the heroine who accidentally crossed into ancient times to become a female bandit, and the script also attached the filming overview of the play, with producers, directors and other information, but the production company wrote "confidentiality". This "secrecy" even lasted until Zhu Ling was about to sign a contract with Xie Pengfei.
On January 15 this year, Zhu Ling received an electronic version of the contract that still did not write out the product company, and she was very confused. Xie Pengfei replied that she was still in the confidential stage, and when the time came, the paper contract would definitely be written.
But until February 3, Zhu Ling could not wait for the complete script, nor did she see the long-awaited actor contract, let alone pay a lot of taxes and fees in advance. At this time, she has transferred a total of more than 60,000 yuan to "Xie Dao" in 31 times.
In the end, Zhu Ling chose to call the police.
"Accomplice" of "Xie Dao"
In May, police arrested Xie Dao in Zhangjiakou City, Hebei Province. Xie Pengfei, formerly known as Zhao Qiang, is 23 years old, born in Hebei Province, the first Chinese, mainly engaged in the second-hand car trading business, but he once worked in the crew, the crew is familiar with the process of recruiting actors.
At the end of 2020, Because Zhao Qiang was tight on hand, he had the idea of deceiving people, so he downloaded a script from the Internet and compiled a web drama project and sent it to the APP and other people to be hooked.
The introduction of this APP is "crew preparation, running group essential APP", and its announcement shows that the platform's group news information is freely released by the crew preparation personnel, and the film and television group news released has no cost, and only part of the group news is collected by the editor for reference and exchange in the industry.
Zhao Qiang plays "Xie Dao" very well, and he often uses some small details to increase the credibility of his identity. From time to time, he asked about the victim's waist weight, as if to make sure that his actors could keep in shape. Or complain that you can only take the high-speed train and can't take the plane on business trips, because the crew does not reimburse the ticket.
The "assistant" zhu ling transferred was not actually an assistant, but another victim, Miao Miao. Xie Pengfei used Miao Miao's collection code to collect money, and based on the screenshot of the transfer sent by Zhu Ling, let Miao Miao transfer the money to her relative's Alipay account.
Until the police arrested Zhao Qiang, Miao Miao realized that she was deeply involved in a scam, and even became an "accomplice" of "Xie Dao".
In fact, in the communication process and transfer process between Miao Miao and Xie Pengfei, WeChat and Alipay have continuously sent her reminders of the risk of fraud, and the Alipay Anti-Fraud Center has also called her to remind her, and even interrupted transactions.
Miao Miao herself also noticed that when transferring money to Xie Pengfei's Alipay, the name on it was not himself, but Xie Pengfei explained that it was his former name, and Miao Miao believed it.
Miao Miao added Xie Pengfei's "assistant" WeChat, but this nickname called Qian Duoduo's "assistant" is actually Zhao Qiang himself.
As "assistants", Zhao Qiang and Miao Miao chatted in very different tones. One day, the "assistant" and Miao Miao poured bitter water and said that they were suddenly told to go back to quarantine. Miao Miao asked her to take good care of herself, and the assistant's reply to Miao Miao was: "It's okay teacher, I heard that we seem to be postponing for a few days, and our producer is also in quarantine." ”
What is even more unexpected is that Zhao Qiang once "played" a policeman. According to the criminal verdict issued by the Xiangshan County Court in Zhejiang Province, Zhao Qiang was summoned by the Xiangshan County Public Security Bureau on June 12, 2018, on suspicion of committing the crime of swindling and deception, and was criminally detained the next day.
It turned out that as early as April to June 2018, Zhao Qiang had "starred" as a policeman, wearing a fake police uniform, police pants and wearing a fake police logo, declaring that he was the deputy director of a public security bureau, and repeatedly defrauded others of money on the grounds of borrowing money. On October 29, 2018, the Xiangshan County Court found Zhao Qiang guilty of swindling and cheating, and sentenced him to 10 months in prison, suspended for one year, and confiscated fake police uniforms and other tools used in crimes.
In June, Zhao Qiang was arrested on suspicion of fraud by the Beijing Haidian District Procuratorate. The available evidence shows that Zhao Qiang used the fictitious "First Princess" project to defraud a total of three victims, involving an amount of about 130,000 yuan.
Recently, the Haidian District Procuratorate filed a public prosecution on this case, and the case has not yet been tried.
Yang Zhengxun, an assistant procurator who undertook the case, said that Zhao Qiang's fraud methods were not special, but because he had relevant experience in the industry, he behaved professionally in the process of chatting with the victims, and the victims were indeed difficult to distinguish.
Yang Zhengxun reminded that in today's endless fraud methods, young people should polish their eyes and be cautious when looking for a job, especially if they have not yet signed a contract and ask for money, they should be more vigilant, and if necessary, they should confirm in person whether there is an office address and whether it is a legal and compliant enterprise. (The people involved in the case in the article are pseudonyms) (Fangyuan WeChat Huang Sha Sihan)