In addition to P2P network lending, illegal private equity funds, and blockchain finance, illegal fundraising has now added another "reaping fan type."

  According to media reports, on December 9th, the two internet celebrity anchors, Simba and the abbot, had been commensurate with the brothers of the "Quick Hand Brushing God Hao Jiang Ye"-real name Jiang Zihua, was arrested by the Haining City Public Security Bureau of Hangzhou City on suspicion of opening a casino The bureau formally arrested.

  Intriguingly, during the investigation of the case, another illegal fund-raising case broke out.

  As many as 2,000 fundraising participants joined the WeChat group "Investment and Finance" organized by Jiang Zihua and others.

Their identities are mostly full-time mothers, office workers or school students.

But they have identities that identify with each other-enthusiastic fans of the internet celebrity anchor Simba and the abbot.

  At the moment when the information of "investor education" such as "P2P thunderstorms and heavy losses for investors", "fighting illegal fundraising, investment needs to be rational", "you want other people's interest, people want your principal" and other "investor education" information, the above investment Lies make no secret of their violation of common sense in investment, but why are so many people participating in fundraising?

  The answer is a high rate of return beyond common sense.

The common feature that all fund-raising crimes can succeed is to take advantage of the weakness of greed and greed in human nature and use high returns as bait.

  Take, for example, the P2P network lending that has emerged in recent years of "explosive" news. In the name of financial innovation, the P2P platform utilizes information asymmetry and complex machine instructions and algorithms to treat "young people" who do not have a financial or investment background. It is quite confusing.

Such groups reflect a considerable degree of irrationality and conformity characteristics, and investment decisions are not really "self-determination."

  Illegal fund-raising cases involving the fan community have more obvious irrational and conformity characteristics. Fund-raising actors make full use of the "emotional investment" characteristics of fans as a group to achieve the purpose of fund-raising.

  As we all know, the "fan economy" takes emotional capital as its core, and the fanatical investment of "fans" in idols is often accompanied by a series of equally fanatical consumption and other behaviors.

This behavior is academically called "herding behavior."

  Herding behavior usually refers to the decision-making behavior in which the behavior subject is affected by the actions of other people and then ignores his own private information and imitates the actions of others in an incomplete information environment.

Because herding behavior is contagious, the phenomenon of herding behavior that exists between multiple actors is also called the herd effect.

  Economists Bikhchandani and Sharma believe that herding behavior in the field of financial investment is that investors decide to follow other investors when they find that the decisions of other investors are contrary to their own private information. This kind of "following behavior" can be regarded as A herding behavior.

  In recent years, my country’s "live-broadcast rewards" and "live-broadcast sales" and other fan economies have interpreted the "herd effect" to the extreme. Driven by the frenzied profit-seeking motive, some ethical violations have been derived from this. , Good customs, bad behaviors of laws and regulations, and the use of fans’ love, trust, and fanaticism to raise funds illegally is a breakthrough in the criminal law.

  Through the above observations, it can be found that, in addition to the P2P network lending, illegal private equity funds, and blockchain finance that everyone is calling for, there is now a new "fan community".

  "Fan harvesting type" illegal fund-raising criminals make full use of fans’ irrational and herd psychology, and have certain similarities with "brainwashing scams" in pyramid schemes. They are often easier to succeed than criminal interactions between strangers. .

Therefore, it is necessary to suggest that financial regulatory authorities pay attention and vigilance, and strengthen investor education.

Many fans need to be rational at all times and resist herding behavior to ensure the safety of their funds.

  Dong Wenhui (Associate Professor, School of Law, South China University of Technology)