"Underground law enforcement team" blackmails e-commerce with "bad reviews" and "fighting counterfeiting"
Xinhua News Agency, Fuzhou, November 30th (Reporter Hongyi Chen) Instantly placed thousands of orders to the online store, and then returned the goods collectively and gave negative reviews; reported to the platform for reasons such as "no official authorization" and threatened the store to pay "protection fees." ...
Recently, Putian, Fujian police cracked a cybercrime case.
"Xinhua Viewpoint" reporter's investigation found that similar cases occurred in many places.
These cases are usually simple and rude, and spread rapidly. Many of the participants are young people, and they deserve a high degree of vigilance.
Thousands of online stores were maliciously extorted in just a few months
Not long ago, Putian police successfully cracked a cybercrime case through several months of investigation and arrested 15 suspects.
The case involved more than 1,200 blackmailed online shops, and the amount involved exceeded 3 million yuan.
Wang Zhengliang, a member of the task force and the head of the Xianyou County Public Security Bureau's Cyber Security Brigade, said that during the inspection, the cyber security department found that some netizens regularly placed orders on the e-commerce platform in an organized manner, and then gave bad reviews and asked for refunds, behaving abnormally.
By following the vines, the police have grasped the criminal facts of the gang, its internal structure, and the process of committing crimes.
It has been verified that since October last year, the gang’s core and criminal suspect Liu Moumou has successively created more than 100 QQ groups and WeChat groups, and developed more than a dozen key members. Under the banner of "underground law enforcement team", The e-commerce platform places orders in a short time, and then gives bad reviews and refunds, in order to coerce sellers to pay a "protection fee" ranging from a few hundred to several thousand yuan.
According to the police, the irregular operations of some online shops have been targeted by criminal suspects.
For example, some newly registered online stores have not obtained the authorization certificate from the brand; some online stores have insufficient inventory, and the platform has clear requirements for the delivery time; some online stores use "best" and "absolute" in the product introduction. ”And other “limit words” that violate relevant laws.
After targeting the "prey", the criminal suspect organized a gang to create a large number of transactions in a short period of time, and then gave negative reviews or complaints; at the same time, privately proposed additional conditions for the withdrawal of negative reviews or complaints to put pressure on the merchants.
An online shop operator who was blackmailed told reporters that once a large number of negative reviews flooded in a short period of time, it would affect the exposure rate of the online shop, or be punished by the platform and market supervision departments.
In order to spend money to eliminate the disaster, the online shop operator transferred 8,000 yuan "protection fee" to the criminal gang.
The reporter learned from the task force that in this case, some online shops were extorted several times in just a few months, with losses amounting to more than 20,000 yuan.
In addition, police in Shandong, Guangdong and other places have also uncovered similar cybercrime cases recently.
Among them, a case uncovered by the Shandong police involved more than 2,000 businesses in more than 20 provinces across the country.
"Snowball" absorbs offline and abets minors to join
Bu Jian, captain of the Fourth Team of the Cyber Security Division of the Putian Public Security Bureau, told reporters that the main criminal suspect, Liu Moumou, adopted the “teacher and apprentice” model and used the Internet to spread information on apprenticeships, and charged 188 yuan to 888 yuan according to different teaching content. Yuan’s "teacher fee" teaches corresponding blackmailing skills.
In just 10 months, the gang has developed dozens of core members who are proficient in the whole set of modus operandi.
"This criminal gang of cybercriminals has taken off the assembly line in a'snowball' way, and has developed extremely fast. When the police closed the network, many core members had already begun to do it alone. If it is not discovered and cracked down early, let it develop. , Will cause even worse effects." Bu Jian said.
The police handling the case also revealed that the average age of this criminal gang was less than 18 years old, and the main suspect, Liu Moumou, had just turned 18.
Most of the 15 core gang members are minors, including high school graduates who have just received college admissions letters, and even junior high school students.
From the perspective of protection, the public security department temporarily releases the minors involved in the case on bail pending trial.
According to Wang Zhengliang and other police officers, suspects in this age group have the characteristics of immature mentality, strong imitation, low income, and emotional vulnerability, and they are easily instigated to embark on the path of crime.
In addition, similar new cybercrime tactics are very hidden.
Under the control of the core members of the gang, the various illegal and criminal steps are intertwined and independent of each other. Many minors involved in the periphery think that they are simply placing orders and returning goods, until they were arrested by the task force and did not know that they were suspected of illegal crimes.
Many policemen involved in the arrest said that many minors involved thought they had found a way to make quick money.
But in fact, most of the money obtained from each extortion was taken away by the core members of the gang.
Intensify punishment and strengthen the entire chain of attacks
Interviewed legal professionals believe that this new type of cybercrime is almost "zero cost" and is easy to learn and spread.
Liu Moumou confessed that he could command hundreds of people to commit crimes in just a few months using only one computer.
Although the impact of such cases is bad, there are only a handful of cases reported by victims.
An online shop owner in Xianyou County said that after being blackmailed, he admitted that he was unlucky and did not want to report the crime.
"The amount of extortion is not too big. After reporting the case, you have to cooperate with the police to collect evidence and fix clues. It takes time and effort and is not worth it."
Experts believe that relevant departments should increase punishment for such cybercrime cases, dig deep into their upstream and downstream related crimes, and cut off the chain of interests.
Relevant departments can strengthen cooperation with e-commerce platforms to screen for abnormal behaviors through big data in a timely manner.
Li Chuanwen, executive director of Beijing Okun Law Firm, said that e-commerce practitioners should strengthen the concept of the rule of law, pay attention to operating in compliance, and do not sell counterfeit and shoddy products or other products of unknown origin, and do not exaggerate publicity and avoid giving others.
When you encounter extortion, you should report to the platform or report to the police in time.
At the same time, legal experts suggested that families, schools, and related social organizations should strengthen education and guidance of minors, interpret the law in cases, and enhance the juvenile’s legal awareness to avoid involvement in crimes due to ignorance.