Tricking 2,5 elderly people to buy inferior products Shandong Gaomi police cracked a "sales" type of extraordinarily large pension fraud case
□ Reporter Jiang Dongliang and Li Na
□ Zhong Xiaojuan, correspondent of this newspaper
The Public Security Bureau of Gaomi City, Shandong Province recently cracked a "sales" type of extraordinarily large pension fraud case. The fraud gang took advantage of the psychology of the elderly to "intergenerational relatives" and look forward to the children's "Jackie Chan and Phoenix", through online drainage and offline "sales", using free learning machines as a gimmick, using "routine" words to brainwash the elderly, tricking the elderly into buying inferior products, and more than 2,5 victims.
In the investigation of the case, the Gaomi Municipal Public Security Bureau, with the strong support of the Weifang Municipal Public Security Bureau, dug deep along the line and smashed a full-chain fraud gang of "introduction, pushing, preparation, supply and sales", stopping more than 46,5000 people and arresting <> criminal suspects, involving more than <>,<> yuan.
"I'm a clerk at a newly opened store, and I invite you to come to the store at the designated time to receive a free gift!" In November 2022, Uncle Wang, a citizen of Gaomi, received such a call. Uncle Wang was no stranger to the location of the store, and thought that there would be no problems with the physical store, so he accepted the invitation.
According to the time notified on the phone, Uncle Wang came to this store. After entering the store, a staff member handed him a free Bluetooth headset. Then, a person who called himself a "lecturer" said that those who are willing to stay will get a free learning machine, with various functions such as reading, following and repeating, but the courses inside need to spend more than 2400,<> yuan to activate before they can be seen. Seeing that Uncle Wang was a little hesitant, the "lecturer" kept emphasizing that "this learning machine is only given to those parents who are most concerned about their children's education".
Under the continuous brainwashing of the "lecturer", Uncle Wang paid 2400,<> yuan for materials on the spot. "My grandson is about to celebrate his birthday, and according to the 'lecturer', the learning machine has a 'famous teacher course', which should be of great help to his learning." Uncle Wang said.
A few days later, the learning machine had a freeze, crash and other malfunctions. Uncle Wang went to the store to negotiate the return, and the clerk asked him to fill out a "Application Form for Refund of Learning Materials Fee" and told him that it would take 5 to 7 working days to apply for a return, and then there was no information.
After investigation, like Uncle Wang, more than 6,38 elderly people in 2 counties and cities in 5 provinces across the country were deceived. Behind this, there is a criminal chain of "information drainage + online promotion + offline tiling".
During the investigation, the police found that this fraud gang had a strict division of labor, and all links were interlocking.
The "outsourcing team" responsible for information drainage is the first link in the criminal chain, mainly using the convenience of assisting communication companies in handling outsourcing business to illegally obtain citizens' personal information such as phone numbers, ID numbers, and home addresses within the target area of fraud and provide them to fraud gangs. Subsequently, according to the information provided by the "outsourcing team", the "call team" made a network call, and researched and formulated product promotion tactics for the elderly group, and lured the elderly to come to the store at the designated time with free gifts for the opening of the new store, so as to provide recommendations for further fraud.
The "store manager team" is responsible for offline preparations, selecting locations with dense crowds and familiar to the masses to rent storefronts and decorate stores, disguised as electronic product stores, and confuse the masses. The "manufacturer team" supplies counterfeit and shoddy learning machines to ensure the supply of products. The "publicity and sales team" is responsible for on-site sales, boasting about the function of the learning machine, and attracting the elderly to buy "lifelong use of teaching materials" with the free gift of the learning machine. After the event, the return was delayed for various reasons until the store was closed and ran away.
During the investigation, the police found that the fraud carried out by this gang was hidden and targeted. Fraud gangs take one month as the cycle of committing crimes in each county and city, and they change places with one shot and commit crimes.
After grasping the relevant clues and evidence, the police launched a centralized collection of nets. The task force first knocked out the "call team" in one fell swoop, arrested the supervisor Zhao and 11 "operators", and obtained a large amount of evidence such as computer and system data and speech training records on the spot. Subsequently, the police dug deep along the line and arrested a total of 46 suspects.
After testing by professional institutions, the learning machines purchased by the elderly are counterfeit and shoddy products. The so-called "famous teacher courses" in the learning machine are all purchased by fraud gangs from illegal software companies. These software companies record the courses of relevant textbooks without the permission of the relevant publishing houses, and the teachers who record the courses are not the so-called "famous teachers of famous schools".
The reporter of "Rule of Law Daily" learned from the Gaomi Municipal Public Security Bureau that this case involves multiple crimes of illegal infringement of citizens' personal information, production and sale of fake and shoddy products, fraud, copyright infringement, and covering up and concealing criminal proceeds. At present, the case is under further investigation.