Zhai Xinxin's "fraudulent marriage" case has attracted attention again How is fraudulent marriage defined in law?

Zhai Xinxin's "fraudulent marriage" case ushered in the first-instance verdict and attracted attention again

Is concealing or fabricating personal information considered a fraudulent marriage?

Zhai Xinxin's "fraudulent marriage" case, which was swept on the Internet five years ago, has recently returned to the public spotlight because of a verdict. The Chaoyang District People's Court of Beijing Municipality pronounced a judgment that Zhai Xinxin returned nearly 10 million yuan of cash and cars to Su Xiangmao's family, and revoked Zhai Xinxin's personal ownership of two properties in Hainan and Beijing.

The "romantic moves" and "touching moments" of love and marriage in your eyes, in the eyes of some lawbreakers, are just tricks and gimmicks to cheat money, but just a script of the "pig killing plate" of marriage. How is fraudulent marriage defined in law? What are the legal responsibilities of marriage fraudsters? How to avoid falling into the trap of marriage "pig killing plate"? In an interview with reporters, Li Kui, executive director of the Law Committee of the China Volunteer Association, conducted legal analysis and popularization interpretation of these topics.

【Case Review】

Zhai Xinxin was sentenced by the court to return nearly 10 million property

In the early morning of September 2017, 9, WePhone founder Su Xiangmao jumped to his death from his residence near the company.

The day before his death, Su Xiangmao left an online post on Google+, saying that his ex-wife Zhai Xinxin used his personal tax evasion and WePhone network phone function as a gray operation to blackmail him and asked him for 1000 million yuan and a real estate.

According to the chat records and written memories of the two compiled by Su Xiangmao before his death, he and Zhai got married in a flash within two months of acquaintance, and quickly divorced 40 days later. Together with the compensation in the divorce agreement, Su Xiangmao spent more than <> million yuan for Zhai Xinxin in the past four months.

After Su Xiangmao's suicide note was made public, public opinion was in an uproar, which attracted the attention of netizens.

After Su Xiangmao's death, the Su family's relatives reported to the public security organs, accusing Zhai Xinxin of fraud and extortion. In addition, the Su family's relatives also filed a civil lawsuit with the Chaoyang District Court in April 2018, demanding the huge amount of property that Su Xiangmao gave to Zhai Xinxin during his lifetime.

On March 2023, 3, the Chaoyang District People's Court of Beijing pronounced a first-instance judgment that Zhai Xinxin should return Su Xiangmao's family's cash, cars and other property worth nearly 31 million yuan, and revoke Zhai Xinxin's personal ownership of two properties in Hainan and Beijing.

According to the information ascertained by the trial, Zhai Xinxin and Su Xiangmao met for more than 110 days until they agreed to divorce, during which they received vehicles and goods from Su Xiangmao worth more than 300 million yuan, and the marriage process had obvious economic characteristics.

In order to obtain high compensation in the divorce, Zhai Xinxin coerced Su Xiangmao, without taking into account Su Xiangmao's original intention of donating his property, hoping to live with him and maintain his feelings, as well as Su Xiangmao's subjective feelings and objective economic situation under duress, which were important factors that caused Su Xiangmao's suicide. Zhai Xinxin and Su Xiangmao's marriage, and the large amount of pre-marital and post-marital property acquired by gift for the purpose of increasing their own property are all within the scope of revocability.

On April 4, Su Xiangmao's sister Su Yafeng said in an interview with the media that she agreed with the verdict of the civil lawsuit. However, she believes that throughout the incident, Zhai Xinxin used threats to demand money from Su Xiangmao, suspected of extortion. They have submitted an "application for case registration supervision" to the procuratorate and are actively promoting the filing of criminal cases.

"From the beginning of the accident to now, criminal (case filing) has always been our purpose. We are going after criminal filing. Su Yafeng said.

【Highlights of Law Popularization】

1. What kind of behavior is a fraudulent marriage? How is the law defined?

Normal marriage and relationship is not for the purpose of illegally occupying each other's property, even if there is deception in the process of communication, but its purpose is often to win favor, maintain the relationship, and finally achieve the purpose of marriage. The fraudulent marriage referred to in the law generally refers to the act of using marriage as bait to defraud other people's property.

Under the guise of marriage, some criminals use marriage to demand meeting gifts, introduction fees, and wedding dowries to defraud victims of money, and then "withdraw from marriage" for various reasons, seek opportunities to escape, and finally achieve the purpose of defrauding money. In recent years, fraud crimes in the name of marriage and romance have been common, including direct transfer and consumption to obtain property, as well as "pig-killing" scams that induce investment, stock speculation and gambling.

The behavior of "fraudulent marriage" usually has several obvious characteristics: first, the targets targeted by criminals are mostly older unmarried young people or young people who are eager to start a family, and they cheat in the name of blind dates and marriage; Second, after defrauding the victim's trust, most of the lawbreakers demand money on the grounds of buying gifts, jewelry, bride price, etc.; Third, the fraud process is relatively fast, generally quickly advancing the procedures of mediation, blind date, marriage, divorce and escape, and in some cases even gangs have committed crimes.

In judicial practice, attention should be paid to screening whether a person is suspected of fraud after asking for a dowry, who disappears or runs away from home, who cohabits with another person after claiming a bride price, or who marries multiple times in a short period of time. Even if it does not constitute a fraud crime, if the above circumstances exist, the court will give a sufficient value judgment when determining the return of the dowry. If it is determined that the woman is indeed fabricating facts or concealing the truth for the purpose of asking for a dowry, and is suspected of fraud, the people's court will transfer the criminal clues to the public security organs for handling.

If a man and a woman obtain a marriage certificate, form a legal marriage relationship and live together, if it is found that the woman is greedy for money, has a weak sense of family, is irresponsible for marriage, etc., resulting in the two being unable to live together, it is generally not appropriate to characterize it as a fraudulent marriage.

If during the marriage, one party continuously fabricates various reasons to defraud a huge amount of money, such as: the family friend suffers an accident or needs money to see a doctor, does business requires capital turnover, and can do something for the other party requires related expenses, it is suspected of fraud.

According to the provisions of China's Criminal Law, those who defraud public or private property in large amounts shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years, criminal detention or surveillance, and a fine or both; where the amount is very large or there are other serious circumstances, a fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than ten years shall be imposed and a fine; Where the amount is particularly large or there are other particularly serious circumstances, a fixed-term imprisonment of not less than 10 years or life imprisonment shall be imposed, and a fine or confiscation of property shall be imposed.

2. Is one party suspected of fraudulent marriage if he conceals or even falsifies important personal information before marriage, such as marriage history, history of major illness, education, identity, debt problems, etc.? What are the responsibilities?

This issue needs to be analysed on a case-by-case basis, and serious circumstances may indeed involve criminal responsibility.

In the process of marriage, some people will also beautify and exaggerate their career, income, etc., or hide some unfavorable circumstances for themselves, and some themselves have a relationship or even married, and still pursue others. This kind of deception in marriage, the perpetrator's purpose is to deceive the other party into dating and marrying, not to illegally occupy the other party's property, so it can only be condemned at the moral level, and does not constitute a matter of criminal responsibility.

Concealing one's marriage history and marrying the other party is not an act of fraudulent marriage, because the act is only concealing one's own marital situation, not illegally taking possession of the other party's property.

However, in the case of marriage to another person in the case of concealment of marital status, the Penal Code clearly stipulates that such an act constitutes a suspected crime of bigamy. Article 258 of China's Criminal Law stipulates that anyone who has a spouse and marries another person, or who knowingly marries another person who has a spouse, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than two years or criminal detention.

Concealment of a sick marriage does not constitute fraudulent marriage, since it is not aimed at defrauding money. However, if one party conceals a major illness before marriage, it is a situation where the major illness is concealed before marriage, and the other party learns that one party has a major illness after marriage, he or she may apply to the people's court for annulment of the marriage within one year. However, whether the illness suffered is based on whether the marriage is invalid or can be used as a ground for divorce needs to be determined by the people's court after trial according to the nature of the concealed disease.

In the case of one party to the marriage concealing the debt, if the other party is used for marriage, it is a joint debt; However, if it is only used for one party, it is a personal debt.

3. If the marriage partner who met through a marriage website or intermediary conceals or even falsehoods important personal information, does the marriage website or intermediary need to bear the corresponding responsibility?

In recent years, in some marriage fraud cases, online platforms have often become an important medium for parties to get acquainted, including both general dating software and specialized dating websites.

Generally speaking, dating apps do not have a registration and review mechanism for the parties' information, nor do they aim to promote marriage, so even if there are scammers in it, resulting in victims being scammed, the platform is usually not liable.

However, for specialized dating websites, because they themselves are for the purpose of promoting marriage, and have certain review requirements for registration information, some also provide customers with premium membership and other charging functions, once the review is neglected to lead to marriage fraud, the platform may need to bear certain responsibilities.

In a judicial case in Guangdong, a man Liu purchased a senior member of a marriage website and met a young woman who claimed to be divorced through the platform, and the two were required to invest in virtual currency after dating, resulting in a loss of nearly one million yuan, and Liu sued the platform to claim responsibility.

After the first and second instance of the court, it was finally determined that the platform should bear 5% of the compensation for Liu's losses.

The court held that although the platform did not commit fraud, there was a certain causal relationship between some of the acts carried out and Liu's property losses, and there was a certain fault, and it should bear the corresponding civil liability. The platform providing marriage and romance intermediary services shall perform obligations corresponding to the nature and content of its services. Moreover, Liu purchased the premium membership service, which has reason to place a higher degree of trust and expectation on the platform, and the platform also has higher obligations to Liu than ordinary members.

Based on the content of the contract and the principle of good faith between the two parties, the platform shall truthfully report relevant matters including the true situation of other members' information to Liu. The platform shall also perform corresponding security protection obligations, and take technical measures and other necessary measures to prevent online illegal and criminal activities. However, if the platform failed to fully and properly perform the above obligations, taking into account the platform's infringement method, degree of fault and causal force, as well as the ability to prevent risks, the court determined that the platform was liable for 5% of the compensation for the property losses that Liu was defrauded but had not yet recovered.

4. In the process of marriage, how to prevent falling into the trap of fraudulent marriage?

In many cases of fraudulent marriage, victims often end up in a situation of "empty of money and money", for young men and women who are eager to get married or in love, it is necessary to maintain necessary sobriety in the face of love and prevent it:

1. Do not believe in marriage and dating advertisements on the Internet, and the marriage partner you meet through the Internet must do a certain understanding and verification of their true identity and family background, especially to distinguish the authenticity of the other party's ID card.

2. Before marriage registration, it is best not to have large economic transactions, such as large loans, or give expensive gifts, houses, vehicles, etc., marriage requires a deep emotional foundation, can not rely only on material to maintain.

3. Maintain the necessary awareness of precautions in communication. Especially pay attention to identifying the other party's promises and self-introduction, scammers still have many loopholes and flaws in the process of cheating, as long as you pay a little attention and through investigation, you can find problems from them.

4. Once it is discovered that a huge amount of money has been defrauded, it is necessary to promptly preserve relevant evidence materials and report the case to the public security organ, and assist the public security organ in investigating and collecting evidence.

Text/Reporter Chen Si