By providing a two-way exchange service between online points and offline currency, the studio has jointly built an online gambling platform involving hundreds of gamblers and millions of funds with game websites. This studio's "up and down points" service is not simple
Dai Xiaowei Wang Lilin
A three-person studio, through a seemingly simple game website, has realized the two-way exchange of online points and offline currency, setting up an online gambling platform involving hundreds of gamblers and millions of yuan of funds.
Recently, the reporter learned from the Intermediate Court of Xiangyang City, Hubei Province that Peng, Yuan, and Yang, who were prosecuted by the Yicheng Procuratorate in the province, had a second-instance result in the case of opening a casino, and the second-instance court ruled to uphold the first-instance verdict.
Provide game players with "up and down points" service
In early 2020, Peng came into contact with gambling websites.
Gradually, he found that only by standing on the side of the "banker" can he win without losing, so he spent money to buy two game agent accounts of "color whale fishing" and "728 chess and card", intending to provide other players with "up and down". "Points" service ("up points" means helping players recharge to get game points, "down points" means helping players convert game points into RMB), and then earn the exchange difference.
In order to facilitate the operation, Peng rented a house in a community in Yicheng, and was equipped with a special computer and mobile phone.
In June of the same year, Peng Mou successively recruited Yuan Mou and Yang Mou to the studio to carry out "up and down division" activities. The working hours were implemented in a 24-hour system and a "double shift" model, and a redemption system with a clear division of labor was gradually established.
In March 2021, a bank information under Peng's name was suspected of fraud. Through this clue, during the process of verifying with Peng, the public security organs found that he provided players with "up and down points", and immediately charged three People file a case for investigation.
Is it simply playing games or online gambling?
After Peng Mou, Yuan Mou, and Yang Mou came to the case, the public security organ applied to the Yicheng Procuratorate for approval to arrest the three people on suspicion of opening a casino.
During the prosecutor's questioning, Peng, Yuan, and Yang argued that the studio was just selling game points, and they didn't know that players could enter the website to gamble after they "ranked".
"If I do not operate for a long time, the account I use will be automatically frozen in the background, and I will no longer be able to log in." Peng Mou confessed.
Because of this, although the public security organs seized the mobile phones and computers equipped by the studio involved, they did not collect relevant evidence to confirm that the website involved was a gambling website and that the account of Peng Mou's studio was a proxy account.
So far, whether the website involved is a gambling website and whether the account involved is a proxy account has become the key doubts in the case.
After careful review of the WeChat chat records of the 9 mobile phones involved in the case, the prosecutor found that although there was no evidence to prove that the website involved was a gambling website, the content of the group chat could preliminarily prove that Peng, Yuan, and Yang were making profits. The purpose is to set the method and proportion of points exchange, so that players can realize their gambling behavior through the "color whale fishing" and "728 chess and card" websites. The behavior of the three people has been suspected of the crime of opening a casino.
"Although the studio account cannot be logged in, there are many players who use the studio's 'up and down points', and the website is still there. Starting from the player, website record number information, etc., you can definitely find out the relationship between the studio account and the website, and the relationship between the studio account and the website. The difference between player accounts..." After the decision to approve the arrest was made, in order to consolidate the evidence base that the behavior of Peng and other three persons was organized, operational, and profitable, and to further identify the relationship between the website involved and Peng's studio, the procuratorate According to the roles of the persons involved, players, and game websites, the officials put forward different key points for collecting and consolidating evidence, and guided the public security organs to continue to supplement the investigation.
Focusing on the outline of the investigation, the public security organs found out that the "Color Whale Fishing" and "728 Chess Cards" websites provided false filing information and illegally set up the game point transfer function without the persons involved in the case on the upstream website. The "agent" authority forms a closed loop of cash payment, builds the fact of an online casino, and verified that from June 2020 to March 2021, Peng Mou, with the help of Yuan Mou and Yang Mou, provided at least 406 players with recharge, cash, etc. Gambling services.
What is the relationship between points and gambling money exchange?
"From November 2020 to March 2021, I lost nearly 700,000 yuan..." According to the account of the player Ding, who came to the case, in December 2020, the news was pushed through the small speaker of the "Colorful Whale Fishing" interface system , he added the customer service WeChat of Peng Mou's studio.
"Every time I enter the website to play fishing, poker, mahjong and other games, I have to recharge to get points. Because there is a discount for recharging in Peng Mou's studio, I will contact them through WeChat to pay and recharge. After playing, if I win, I will Transfer the points in your account to the account designated by Peng Mou's studio through the 'gift' function on the website, and then you can receive the corresponding money, but the website will charge a 2% handling fee."
The player account cannot enter the member management background, and cannot send game speakers. The website charges a 2% handling fee when "gifting", overseas IP, false filing information... After carefully sorting out the evidence materials, the prosecutor confirmed that the website has set up a member management background, By granting Peng and others agency authority and building offline payment channels, a closed-loop payment of "gambling funds - website points - cash" has been formed.
Court finds three defendants guilty of opening casinos
Because the server of the website involved was located outside the country, the upstream personnel could not find it in time during the handling stage of the case. Although Peng and the three truthfully confessed their actions, they insisted that they did not know the illegal nature of the website involved.
To this end, the case-handling prosecutor has held several case discussion meetings to focus on the definition of the nature of the website and the subjective knowledge of the persons involved in the case.
The court believes that the existing evidence has confirmed that the website involved has formed a closed loop of cash flow, and the three of Peng acted as agents for the gambling website, and provided 406 gamblers with "up and down points" services in a 9-month period.
In the end, the Yicheng Procuratorate prosecuted the three for the crime of opening a casino, and suggested that the public security organs further investigate the upstream personnel of the website involved.
In the process of the first instance, the prosecutor handling the case conducted key interrogation and proof based on the subjective knowledge and other aspects of the three people's evidence in the case.
After comprehensive interpretation and reasoning, the defendants Yuan Mou and Yang Mou voluntarily pleaded guilty in court.
In March of this year, the court made a first-instance judgment on the case, and sentenced the defendant Peng Mou to five years in prison and a fine of 60,000 yuan for the crime of opening a casino; sentenced the defendant Yuan to three years and three months in prison and fined him. 35,000 yuan; sentenced defendant Yang to three years in prison and a fine of 30,000 yuan.
Peng appealed against the first-instance judgment.
On July 11, the Xiangyang Intermediate People's Court made a final ruling, upholding the first-instance judgment.
At present, the judgment has come into effect.