Text/Cai Ruibiao
On February 16, 2023, the Ministry of Public Security announced 5 typical cases of special actions to combat and punish crimes related to online underworld crimes, and the Ministry of Public Security attaches great importance to the grim situation of the spread of underworld crimes to the Internet, fully recognizes the serious harm of crimes related to online underworld crimes, and makes the special action to combat and punish crimes related to online underworld crimes an important part of the normalized struggle to eliminate organized crime and eliminate vice.
A new type of cyber-related crime is hidden around everyone, and in today's increasingly open network, each of us may be the target. Shengyi's criminal defense team combined 5 typical cases to explain the new type of cyber-related underworld crimes in the new era, hoping that everyone can identify the scam.
Five typical cases of cyber-related underworld
(1) Anhui Fuyang Lai Mouhua et al. cross-border naked chat extortion case
Criminal suspect Lai Mouhua and others set up dens in northern Myanmar, lured dozens of domestic citizens to smuggle in on the pretext of high-paying jobs, and then illegally controlled them through violent means such as beatings and detention, and organized illegal and criminal activities such as naked chat and extortion against domestic citizens.
The organization cooperated with the domestic "drainage" team to lure victims to add criminal suspects' QQ friends with information such as "prostitution", "online dating" and "naked chat" on various dating software, tricked victims into downloading and installing APP software with Trojan viruses through links or QR codes, stole information such as the victim's mobile phone address book, and intercepted and recorded the victim's indecent video through QQ video calls, threatened and intimidated on the grounds of sending indecent videos to relatives and friends in the address book, and repeatedly demanded "video deletion fees" and "confidentiality fees". Forcing some victims to borrow money from relatives, friends, and microfinance companies, and even coercing victims to jointly commit criminal activities of extortion.
(2) Hunan Yueyang, Zhou et al., cross-border naked chat extortion case
Criminal suspect Zhou and others set up dens in northern Myanmar, lured dozens of domestic citizens to smuggle in on the grounds of high-paying jobs, lured victims to add QQ friends with information such as "soliciting prostitution", "online dating" and "naked chatting" on various dating software, and carried out illegal and criminal activities such as naked chat extortion in an organized manner.
The criminal organization's internal control methods were crude and cruel, and drugs were used to force its members to continue to participate in the commission of illegal crimes. The criminal organization even directly extorted and extorted its insiders, demanding that their families pay a high ransom after "eating and squeezing them out", and reselling those who refused to accept its "discipline" and had no money to squeeze to other criminal dens at high prices.
(3) Fujian Ningde Ke Moufeng et al. online routine loan case
Criminal suspect Ke Moufeng and others set up a "Bai Qian IOU" company in Fuzhou City without online loan qualifications, and used the "Loan Treasure" platform to carry out illegal and criminal activities of online loan loans in an organized manner for a long time by creating false flows, maliciously building up debts, and collecting soft violence.
The organization used illegally obtained citizens' personal information to attract victims to contact them through advertisements such as "no mortgage", "quick loan" and "low interest", obtained information such as the borrower's identity information, photos, and mobile phone address book when reviewing qualifications, agreed to charge about 30% of the loan amount of "cut interest", used the lending account registered on the "loan treasure" platform to sign a loan contract with the victim, falsely increased the "security deposit" consistent with the amount of "cut interest", created a false flow consistent with the contract amount, and then used the Alipay account to recover itFees such as "cut interest", "margin", "rollover fee" and "overdue fee" form a debt relationship that far exceeds the actual amount of borrowing.
In order to collect illegal debts, the collection personnel were organized to continue to force victims to pay money and property through soft violence, and a large number of victims fell into the abyss of debt, and some even committed suicide in despair.
(4) Case of soft violence collection by Yang Mouxiang and others in Zhoukou, Henan
Criminal suspect Yang Mouxiang, together with Zheng Mouling and others, set up online lending companies without online loan qualifications in Fuzhou, Xiamen and other places in Fujian Province, attracting victims to borrow money with advertisements such as "low interest, no collateral, and fast lending", organized the illegal and criminal activities of online routine lending, and organized personnel to use soft violence to collect illegal debts.
The organization used the victims' identity information, mobile phone address books and other information it had obtained to insult and threaten the victims through phone calls and text messages, and sent a large number of messages about money owed to relatives and friends in the victims' address books, insulting messages, and photos of the mourning hall, and even used non-stop "bombardment" of phone calls and messages to harass them. A large number of victims are afraid and forced to pay unreasonably high principal and interest, and due to huge debts, major changes in work, marriage, family and other major accidents, and some even commit suicide in despair.
(5) Shandong Binzhou Liang Mouhai et al. negative public opinion extortion case
Since September 2015, in order to seek personal gain, criminal suspect Liang Mouhai has successively registered self-media accounts such as people's livelihood feed platforms and visual world on some news websites, and has successively recruited personnel to threaten negative information about exposed units and individuals in an organized manner, and illegally collect money by asking for "publicity fees", "cooperation fees", "deletion fees", and forcing the purchase of high-priced liquor. In addition, Liang Mouhai and others also intervened in civil disputes through the means of "offline holding cards and online hype", organized and planned to contain troublemakers many times, recorded videos to fabricate public opinion hot spots, and harassed, intimidated, and retaliated against others.
Three major characteristics of the new type of cyber-related underworld crimes
The Internet in the Internet era has characteristics such as openness, virtuality, and concealment, which has led to an increasing change in the organizational structure and behavioral elements of new types of crimes involving cyber underworld forces, and has gradually formed new characteristics of crimes with distinct colors of the network environment.
(1) The structure and organization are relatively free
Because the recruitment of gang members for the new type of cyber-related underworld crimes is mostly through the Internet, most of the gang members do not have traditional relationships such as blood, region, and social relations as a link of connection, which also makes the randomness of gang members relatively high.
For example, in the case of Yang Mouxiang's soft and violent collection in Zhoukou, Henan, in addition to the core members of the gang, they insulted and threatened the victim through phone calls, text messages, etc., and sent a large number of arrears information, insulting messages, and PS mourning hall photos to the victim's relatives and friends in the contact list, and even used non-stop "bombing" phone calls and messages to harass the members were mostly "debt collectors" hired by the gang on the Internet. Such a structure and organization also makes it more difficult for the public security organs to crack down on criminal gangs involved in the Internet.
(2) "Soft violence" is the main means
In order to circumvent the constitutive elements of traditional crimes, criminal gangs involved in cyber-related underworld crimes often employ "soft violence" methods with strong "concealment", thus also breeding two different criminal models, one is that traditional crimes use online means to carry out criminal acts through "routine loans", and the other is crimes bred by the network environment, represented by "online water army" and "online public relations".
Regardless of the mode of crime, the constitutive elements of the crime of "violence and threat of violence" will be replaced by "soft violence" such as threatening to publicly release the victim's private or negative information, fabricating false information and sending harassment, insults, abuse, and slanderous messages to the victim's friends.
(3) The purpose of profit-making is clear
Whether it is "routine loans", extortion, or "cyber trolls" and "online public relations", these new types of cyber-related criminal gangs have a more obvious purpose of profit-making than traditional underworld criminal gangs.
Different from the traditional underworld criminal gangs, which had various purposes in the early days of their establishment, such as imitating early Hong Kong underworld movies and fighting for illegitimate rights, the initial purpose of the establishment of the cyber-related underworld criminal gangs was to seek illegal benefits through various means such as violent collection, routine loans, and extortion.
Write at the end
Shengyi's criminal defense team reminds you that it is not advisable to give in for a while to satisfy the temporary desires of criminal gangs involved in the Internet, which will only lead to getting deeper and deeper until all the value is squeezed out by criminals.
If such a situation is encountered, first of all, it is necessary to protect the safety of oneself and the target of the coercion in a targeted manner according to the conditions of the other party's coercion, and not to be harmed by criminals;
Thirdly, it is necessary to pay attention to the preservation of relevant evidence, hand it over to the police as evidence when calling the police, and actively cooperate with the police to solve the case.
Hunan Xiangjunluhe Law Firm