Preventing illegal fund-raising and keeping the "money bag"
Illegal fund-raising routines are more accidental
● At present, the cases of illegal fund-raising mainly involve the following three forms: first, the illegal absorption of funds by way of investment and shareholding; second, the illegal absorption of funds by way of entrusted wealth management; third, by means of commodity repurchase and custody sales Illegal absorption of funds
● The pre-laws of illegal fund-raising violations mainly include laws and administrative regulations such as Commercial Banking Law, Insurance Law, Securities Law, Securities Investment Fund Law, Banking Regulatory and Management Law, and Measures for the Prohibition of Illegal Financial Institutions and Illegal Financial Business Activities
● Before investing, the public must fully understand the company’s business and the products and services it provides, whether the company has obtained an industrial and commercial business license, whether it has obtained an approval document from the financial regulatory authority, and whether the investment area is safe and reliable
□ Our reporter Han Dandong
□ Liang Chen, an intern in this newspaper
In recent years, with the improvement of people's income level and the development of Internet technology, illegal fund-raising activities have occurred frequently. In addition to the traditional offline illegal fund-raising, there have been many new forms such as P2P platforms and online deposits for online tasks to earn extra money, involving a wide range of content and diverse forms of expression.
Illegal fund-raising seriously interferes with the normal financial order and affects the social harmony and stability. It has become the target of judicial attack.
On June 1, the 2020 campaign to prevent illegal fundraising was officially kicked off. This is the eighth month to prevent illegal fundraising publicity, with the theme of "holding money bags and protecting happy homes".
So, what are the main forms involved in illegal fundraising? What laws will be violated? As far as the public is concerned, if they accidentally encounter illegal fund-raising, how should they protect their legitimate rights and interests, and how can they be quickly identified and prevented?
Illegal fundraising varies
Criminal behaviors are intertwined
On May 20, the Economic Investigation Department of the Shenzhen Public Security Bureau cracked an illegal fund-raising case in which the crocodile was adopted to obtain a high return, involving an amount of about 89.159 million yuan.
At the end of October last year, the Shenzhen Municipal Public Security Bureau's economic investigation department, Nanshan Police Station and other units successively received reports from investors that the "Crocodile Treasure" P2P platform operated by Shenzhen Crocodile Technology Co., Ltd. issued an announcement. Shut down from the day on, the platform's recharge, bid opening, cash withdrawal and other functions stop, and investors' investment funds cannot be withdrawn.
It is reported that the Crocodile Treasure platform was launched in November 2016. It mainly invests in crocodile related products. The specific mode of operation is that the investor invests on the platform in the form of adopting the crocodile of Guangdong Hongyi Crocodile Industry Co., Ltd. The platform promises to protect the interest and interest .
This is just the tip of the iceberg in the current case of illegal fundraising.
According to Li Gezhen, the three prosecutors of the Shanghai Provincial People's Procuratorate, the current illegal fund-raising cases mainly involve the following forms:
First, illegally absorb funds by investing in shares. Under the guise of equity subscription, criminal suspects often use the equity incentive mechanism to promise investors high dividend income and attract investors to invest.
Second, illegally absorb funds by way of entrusted financial management. The criminal suspects aimed at the investment psychology of the common people, absorbed funds through personal borrowing and other means, and promised high returns. Investors pin their hopes on pooling capital to obtain a higher return on investment. In fact, in order to obtain high profits, the suspects often invest the absorbed money in other high-risk investment fields such as other P2P platforms. The end result is often without money. Return.
Third, it does not have the real content of selling commodities and providing services or does not take the sale of commodities and providing services as the main purpose, and illegally absorbs funds by means of commodity repurchase and custody. In this type of case, the criminal suspects apparently set up a company to sell goods or provide services. In fact, they do not want to make profits through consumers buying goods or receiving services, but by promising investors to repurchase goods or deposit on behalf The sales and other methods promise to guarantee the principal and interest, use the investor's profit psychology, deceive the investors' trust, and absorb public deposits in disguise.
"The crocodile treasure platform belongs to the third form." Li Gezhen said.
According to Zheng Ning, director of the Law Department of the Cultural Industry Management School of Communication University of China, from the current case, it mainly includes four categories: debt rights, equity, commodity marketing, and production and operation. Specifically, it includes: illegally raising funds in the name of expanding production and operation, investing in high-tech development, ecological and environmental protection, and energy projects; applying Internet financial innovation concepts, establishing so-called P2P and other online lending platforms, and using illegal means such as fictitious borrowers and fund use to raise funds; Non-financial guarantee companies conduct illegal fund-raising in the name of carrying out guarantee business or investment; in the name of investing in pension apartments and joint security in different places, with high returns and providing old-age services as bait to lure elderly people to “join investment” for illegal fund-raising .
Zheng Ning said that in addition to the banner of overseas investment and high-tech development, fake or fictitious international well-known companies set up websites, fictitious equity listing value-added prospects or promised high expected returns for illegal fund-raising; by looking for agents in Set up branches in the region to form a multi-level and wide-ranging illegal fund-raising criminal network to carry out illegal fund-raising activities; to issue or disguise rights certificates such as stocks, bonds, lotteries, investment funds or illegal fund-raising in the name of futures trading and pawns ; Using network technology to construct "virtual" products, investing in entrusted operations, maturity repurchase, etc. to raise funds illegally; by means of commodity sales and leaseback, repurchase and transfer, membership development, merchant joining, and "quick points method" Illegal fundraising.
In Zheng Ning's view, with the continuous evolution of criminal methods, three new characteristics of illegal fund-raising have appeared:
First, the ways of illegal fund-raising vary. Criminals are transformed from traditional planting and breeding to engineering projects, technological development, investment and shareholding, and consumption rebates by registering legitimate companies or enterprises and responding to national industrial policies and supporting new rural construction.
The second is that multiple crimes are intertwined. Criminals intertwined illegal fund-raising with MLM, contract fraud and other economic crimes. MLM was used to brainwash fund-raising staff first, promising various preferential conditions and profit-making models, and then inducing fund-raising. Generally, in the early stage of fund raising, criminals often actively "honor" their promises of return, cheating on trust, and attracting more people to join in, and the scale of fund raising is rapidly expanding geometrically.
The third is to use the media to build momentum by illegally raising funds at all costs. If you hire celebrity endorsements, publish interview articles in some media, use reports to promote the "performance" of illegal companies; put some illegal fund-raising funds into public welfare or make donations; hire salespersons to enter the community to distribute flyers, disseminate fund-raising information; hold various This kind of activity, and cash dividends on the spot, let the participants first taste the sweetness, and promote the "appearance" for illegal fund-raising activities.
Highlight the key points
Clear division of labor and strengthen collaboration
Li Gezhen analyzed that illegal fund-raising also has distinctive characteristics of secondary illegality. The pre-laws violated mainly include commercial banking law, insurance law, securities law, securities investment fund law, banking supervision and management law, and "Illegal Financial Institutions and Illegal Financial Business Activities Prohibition Measures" and other laws and administrative regulations. The criminal laws involved are mainly the crime of illegally absorbing public deposits, the crime of unauthorized issuance of stocks, companies and corporate bonds, and the crime of fund-raising fraud.
In Zheng Ning's view, in addition to the administrative punishment for confiscating illegal income, fines, and bans on illegally engaging in financial business in accordance with regulations, those who carry out illegal fund-raising activities should also be held accountable for their criminal responsibility. Participation in illegal fund-raising activities is not protected by law.
According to Zheng Ning, the relevant laws clearly stipulate that the losses caused by participating in the illegal absorption of public deposits and illegal fund-raising activities shall be borne by the participants themselves, and the resulting debts and risks shall not be transferred to those who have not participated in the illegal absorption of public deposits and illegal fund-raising Active state-owned banks and other financial institutions and any other units. After the creditor's rights and debts are cleared and cleared, any remaining illegal property shall be confiscated and turned over to the central treasury on the spot. In the process of eliminating illegal absorption of public deposits and illegal fund-raising activities, local governments are only responsible for organizing and coordinating work, and cannot use financial appropriations to compensate for the losses caused by illegal fund-raising.
For preventing and combating illegal fund raising, Zheng Ning suggested:
First of all, highlight the key points and prevent early play. It is necessary to highlight industries such as online lending, private equity funds, pension services, virtual currency, and e-commerce, highlight key groups such as the elderly and young students, and highlight key areas such as station squares, market business districts, and elevator rooms, and do well in publicity and education.
Secondly, clearly define the division of labor and strengthen collaboration. It is necessary to insist on equal responsibility for territorial management and industry supervision, strengthen cross-departmental and cross-regional collaboration among member units and counties in preventing and combating illegal fund raising, and enhance the pertinence and effectiveness of propaganda and education in preventing and combating illegal fund raising.
Finally, adapt to local conditions and focus on actual results. It is necessary to broaden publicity channels and enrich publicity forms.
In Li Gezhen's view, in the prevention of illegal fund-raising criminal activities, the government and relevant departments should further strengthen publicity and propaganda to enable ordinary people to fully understand the temptation and deception of illegal fund-raising; Upon review of the establishment, if a company is found to lack physical business activities and suspected of illegal fund-raising, it shall not approve the establishment. If it has already been established, it shall be shut down in a timely manner. In the fight against illegal fund-raising criminal activities, the judicial organs should collect relevant evidence in an all-round way, effectively protect the legitimate rights and interests of investors, and truly do nothing.
Middle-aged and elderly people are easily deceived
Carefully identify prudent investments
The public who was interviewed randomly by reporters from the Legal Daily was even more curious as to who is more likely to be the key target of illegal fund-raising, and what are the characteristics of victims who encounter illegal fund-raising.
In this regard, Li Gezhen said that the objects of illegal fund-raising activities are mainly those who have the willingness to invest and have idle funds, and have little understanding of new investment models such as Internet finance. In judicial practice, middle-aged and elderly people are more likely to be confused by illegal fund-raising activities. Because this group of people generally has a certain economic foundation and willingness to invest, but the investment channels in the society are relatively scarce, and this group of people has low risk resistance and is unwilling to bear higher risks. Banks’ wealth management products or interest rates Lower, or higher risk, so the investment activities of illegal fund-raising, which promises to protect the principal and interest, to a certain extent, meets the investment psychology of such groups.
According to Zheng Ning, at present, areas with high financial risks such as illegal fundraising include financing intermediaries, online lending, private equity funds, film and television culture, wholesale and retail, e-commerce, real estate, trading venues, agricultural cooperative organizations, resource development, and pension services. , Medical health, private education and other industries.
"The most likely to be deceived are the left-behind elderly people, working people, college students, retirees and other groups." Zheng Ning said that these people's congresses have two characteristics. Investment channels; the second is that there are folk lending customs in human relations society, and the victims have personal trust in illegal savers. Whether people encounter difficulties in life or production difficulties, the first thing they think of is to resort to family and friends Zhou Ji to overcome the difficulties, if they get rich Ways need to raise funds, but also to "blessing and sharing", pull acquaintances into acquaintances, acquaintances and find acquaintances, forming a direct and indirect network of human relations.
So, how should the public quickly identify and prevent illegal fundraising? If you accidentally encounter illegal fund-raising, how should you safeguard your legitimate rights and interests?
"The public must fully understand the company's business and the products and services it provides before investing, to understand whether the company has obtained an industrial and commercial business license, whether it has obtained an approval document from the financial regulatory authority, and whether the capital investment area is safe and reliable." Zheng Ning Say.
Li Gezhen suggested that the public should first recognize the nature and harm of illegal fund-raising, consciously resist all kinds of temptations, calmly analyze investment projects with high returns and rapid wealth, and avoid being deceived. Second, when investing, you should fully understand the content of the investment and the qualifications of the company. Combining the characteristics of illegal fund-raising, focus on examining whether the fund-raising activities have been approved and whether high returns are promised. Be vigilant for investments that do not have physical business activities and promise high returns. Generally speaking, investors with an investment rate higher than 10% should be extra careful. Finally, to increase the awareness of rational investment, high returns are often accompanied by high risks, which requires careful identification and careful investment.
Li Gezhen said that if he accidentally encounters illegal fund-raising, he should keep relevant evidence in time and call the police in time. In particular, investors must keep important investment certificates such as investment contracts, receipts, agreements, and payment vouchers. In addition, in practice, due to the delay in reporting investors, the judicial authorities cannot seize relevant evidence in the first place, and ultimately, due to the loss of important evidence, they cannot be held accountable.
Cartography/Li Xiaojun