In the name of payment collection, the secondary fraud trap of the mutual fund platform

Under the multiple rectification of supervision, the risks of Internet finance have been effectively controlled. After the risk of the problem platform is gradually exposed and unable to pay, there are frequent situations such as running away and missing contact, leaving only anxious investors to ask when they can return the money, which allows fraudsters to find a new "hunting object". On October 26, the Beijing Business Daily reporter noticed that the fraud under the banner of the Internet financial platform is still spreading, and after attracting users through text messages, emails and other means, it induces users to contribute.

Platform redemption pays first

"Dear Users of Aifang, thank you for your long-term support to our company. At present, our company has carried out the collection of some loan users under the supervision of the Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, and the users who have received the notification have also come to the Tencent official group as soon as possible: 8013 ×××× to select the plan. At present, funds are limited, and users who have not yet paid should not be discouraged. On October 26, user Lin Jie (pseudonym) showed a beijing business daily reporter an email from Shenzhen Qianhai Fangchu Internet Financial Services Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Qianhai Fangchu").

However, Lin Jie affirmatively told the Beijing Business Daily reporter that he had never used the Aifang chip platform, nor had he invested in other Internet financial platforms, and he did not understand the situation mentioned in the email.

Following the information provided by Lin Jie, the Beijing Business Daily reporter used false identity information to enter a QQ group called "Love House Chip Official Signature Clearance and Payment Group", and the group leader was named "China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission". After the Beijing Business Daily reporter entered the group chat, there were also new users in the group, and said that they received the payment refund notification through mailbox, telephone, etc., and entered the group according to the requirements.

At the same time, the administrator in the group has also been using words such as "limited number of payment collections" and "less available funds" to prompt users to seize the time to contact customer service to choose a payment collection plan. In the group announcement, the words "After investigation by the CBIRC, the company's remaining funds are currently transferred to a third-party exchange, and the risk mitigation plan is formulated under the guidance of the CBIRC, and the CBIRC designates a third-party exchange for bond transfer" and other words.

When the users in the group were talking about the authenticity of the payment collection, a "customer service" private chat with the Beijing Business Daily reporter asked for THE ID card, mobile phone number, principal and interest amount, etc., and said that under the supervision of the "Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission", the payment collection operation was strictly carried out through the third-party platform. Although the information provided was false, the "customer service" prepared an application certificate for the Beijing Business Daily reporter "I" to redeem an amount of more than 50,000 yuan.

According to the "customer service", in accordance with the requirements of the "Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission", the users of the aifang fundraising platform make payments on a platform called the China Dollar International Exchange. The user can start the principal and interest redemption plan by paying a certain amount of the payment base to the China Coin International Exchange by himself, and at the end of the cycle, the advance amount and the principal and interest payable are returned together.

According to the 4 redemption schemes given by "customer service", users can choose to inject 60%, 45%, 30%, 20% of the total assets into the China Currency International Exchange as the basis for payment, according to the payment, the collection can reach the user's account on the China Currency International Exchange within 3 days, 7 days and 10 days, and the user can withdraw cash by himself.

Taking the Beijing Business Daily reporter's 50,000 yuan repayment amount as an example, if you choose to inject 60% of the capital on the China Dollar International Exchange, that is, 30,000 yuan, you can receive 50,000 yuan and 30,000 yuan of capital injection on the same day; if you choose to register 20%, that is, 10,000 yuan, you will continue to pay back within 10 days.

"When it comes to the redemption link, the scam has basically surfaced completely." Yu Baicheng, president of Zero One Research Institute, pointed out that a certain fee needs to be paid before redemption, which is obviously not in line with the conventional redemption process. Public information shows that the love house chip has already had a payment problem in 2016, and even the payment is not supervised by the Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission. Scammers take advantage of P2P investors' lack of financial knowledge and eagerness to get their investment funds back, so as to commit fraud.

Multiple "tors" within a group

Beijing Business Daily reporter learned that Qianhai Housing Chip is the main operating company of the P2P platform Love House Chip, mainly engaged in real estate crowdfunding projects. In June 2016, there was a redemption crisis in Aifang chip, and in July 2017, Chen Hongkai, the company's legal representative, was arrested for illegally absorbing deposits from the public. At present, Qianhai Fangchu has been included in the ranks of untrustworthy executors and serious violations of the law.

According to the criminal judgment issued by the Tianhe District People's Court of Guangzhou in March 2020, the Aifang fundraising platform raises investment funds from unspecified groups of people in the society in the form of crowdfunding, realizes profits through the appreciation and leasing of real estate, and promises to attract customers with an annualized income of 10%-18%. As of October 2018, a total of 213 victims had reported the case, involving an amount of 45.2578 million yuan and causing losses of 43.755 million yuan. Chen Hongkai was sentenced to four years in prison and returned to compensation for illegal gains.

On October 25, on the authenticity of the aforementioned payment plan, the Beijing Business Daily reporter repeatedly contacted Qianhai Fangfang to understand the specific situation, but did not get a reply from the other party. As for the China Coin International Exchange, which plays the role of a third-party platform, the Beijing Business Daily reporter did not find a download channel in the regular application mall, and its operator has nowhere to verify, and can only operate through the link provided by "customer service".

In the "Love House Chip Official Signed Clearance and Payment Group", there are also users who leave messages to prompt caution and be careful of being harvested twice. There are also some users who claim to have received the previous payment and are waiting for the last issue. However, when asked to provide relevant proof, the user only provided a screenshot of the bank card arrival, and the authenticity of his identity still needs to be verified.

What is more interesting is that in order to prevent users from being deceived, the Beijing Business Daily reporter sent a private message to a person in the group who spoke more actively and seemed to be a real user to remind him, emphasizing that the platform's real payment will not require users to pay again. Subsequently, the Reporter of Beijing Business Daily was immediately "kicked" out of the group chat, and the so-called small group of "Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission" staff was also quickly dissolved.

In this regard, Su Xiaorui, a senior analyst at Analysys, said that in the scam of telecom fraud, in order to attract real users, scammers often play multiple roles to enhance the credibility of the scam, so that users can relax their vigilance and only defraud one person.

In Su Xiaorui's view, the scam generated around the payment collection of the online loan platform has a certain accuracy in the positioning of the target user, on the one hand, it reflects that the scammer uses the investor's intention to set up a special word, and naturally integrates the name of the regulator, bank account and other information. On the other hand, it is also due to the fact that some online lending platforms are in the liquidation stage, or have long been lost, and the payment collection is in a disorderly state, so that criminals take advantage of the void.

Secondary harvest

Further investigation by the Beijing Business Daily reporter found that in addition to "love house chips", such fraudulent acts under the banner of Internet financial platform payment collection are not uncommon. Through the collected user information, in the form of mail, text messages, etc., widely cast the net, with "preferential payment rights", "early payment collection", "internal policy payment collection" and other words, the practice of telecommunications fraud, the investors who are eager to return the money for the second harvest.

In response to this situation, the regional Internet financial risk special rectification working group has issued a risk warning. On September 8, the Nanning Municipal Financial Affairs Office issued a risk warning on the false information on the online loan platform, pointing out that Guangxi Qianbon Technology Co., Ltd. was suspected of illegally absorbing deposits from the public and investigating the case, while some institutions or individuals lured lenders to "add groups" in the name of providing the company's returns, and used the lender's eagerness to return the money to carry out fraud, and the relevant clues have been transferred to the public security organs for disposal.

The Nanning Municipal Financial Affairs Office reminds that the withdrawal of raised funds requires the judicial organs to be uniformly refunded in accordance with the law, and lenders must be vigilant, enhance their awareness of risk prevention and identification ability, do not trust the promise of "early payment", and do not send money to any individuals and units in the group, beware of being deceived, if they find clues of suspected violations and crimes, they can take the initiative to report to the local public security organs for handling.

Su Xiaorui also pointed out that after receiving relevant prompt information, users should first pay attention to the identity of the publisher of such information and whether it has a valid proof that it is an official personnel; secondly, look for the announcement information of public channels such as official websites and public accounts, and scammers often hide their whereabouts through social software such as WeChat and QQ groups.

"In daily life, we must also pay attention to protecting personal information, including sensitive information such as personally identifiable information, investment records, bank card accounts, etc., and do not easily fill in or disclose it in an uncertain state." Su Xiaorui added.

Beijing Business Daily reporter Yue Pinyu Liao Meng

Source: Beijing Business Daily