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Whether it is funds, stocks or futures, investment has risks. Many of the investors are elderly people who have invested their life savings in various financial products. Ms. Lin from Kunming is one of them. With the encouragement of the QQ and WeChat group "team" and the guidance of the "investment teacher", Ms. Lin, who knew nothing about Bitcoin, invested 610,000 yuan, but in the end, nothing came of it.
Join the "Stock Trading Team"
"This platform is fake!" 65-year-old Ms. Lin realized that she might have been cheated and called the police. Ms. Lin had not even touched the edge of Bitcoin, but was cheated out of 610,000 yuan in the name of investing in Bitcoin. "More than 600,000 yuan is a lifetime savings for us old people." So what exactly did Ms. Lin experience?
In October this year, Ms. Lin received a text message saying that there was a professional teacher leading her to operate as a team in stock trading. Out of curiosity and years of stock trading experience, on October 21, Ms. Lin followed the link in the text message to join a WeChat group, where many netizens were actively discussing stock trading investment and considerable returns. Among them, the "investment consultant" or group owner "Teacher Zhan Peng" taught a lot of professional knowledge about stock trading. Ms. Lin, who has always been a stock investor, thought it made sense, so she began to pay attention to the dynamics of the group and this "Teacher Zhan Peng".
Later, "Teacher Zhan Peng" moved the "battlefield" to the QQ group, citing that the WeChat group was often blocked. "This 'Teacher Zhan Peng' said that he had a happy family and no worries about food and clothing, and that he led everyone to invest in stocks purely out of kindness, and asked members to donate 20% of the profits to support the construction of poverty-stricken areas such as Guizhou and Xinjiang." Ms. Lin felt that this would not only bring considerable profits, but also help those in need, so she was attracted.
Falling into the Bitcoin Trap
"Teacher Zhanpeng" revealed his true intention. When giving a speech in the group, he talked about how worrying the current stock market situation was, and urged all members to balance their investments and transfer funds to Bitcoin investment.
On October 23, Ms. Lin began to invest money in the stock market under the instruction of "Teacher Zhan Peng". "At the beginning, I made 10,000 yuan on the stock trading platform." Ms. Lin said, which made her trust this "team" even more. Later, the group required members to sign in every day, compiled some "inspiring" slogans to spread, and forwarded many live broadcast links.
Under the guidance of "brainwashing", Ms. Lin deposited funds into "MateTrader4" - a Bitcoin trading platform, one by one, from November 12. At the beginning, she didn't lose much, and she saw that the group members were making money and posting screenshots of tens of thousands of dollars in a few minutes. With a fluke mentality, Ms. Lin continued to increase her capital investment on the 13th and 14th. At the same time, "Teacher Zhan Peng" also repeatedly urged her, "Don't operate without my instructions, continue to hold, you can make up 20% of the position here, buy in and take screenshots!"... So there were countless screenshots, and all of Ms. Lin's funds entered this platform. "Later, the police helped me add up one by one, and the total was 610,000 yuan." Ms. Lin said.
The reporter clicked into the "MateTrader4" trading platform, and found that it was "simple" except for a few rows of real-time changing numbers. When the reporter asked Ms. Lin if she knew about Bitcoin, she shook her head.
610,000 yuan went down the drain
When Ms. Lin entered the platform again, she found that all the money she invested was gone. Ms. Lin hurriedly asked "Teacher Zhan Peng", but the "teacher" said lightly that he had made a wrong judgment on the market. When Ms. Lin questioned, she received a response like "If you don't believe in Zhan Peng, please withdraw from Zhan Peng's team!" After that, when Ms. Lin contacted the "teacher" again, she never received any message reply. Feeling something was wrong, Ms. Lin immediately asked the "comrades-in-arms" in the group and kindly reminded them not to invest anymore. Unexpectedly, the "comrades-in-arms" all said in unison: it's not a big deal to make up for the loss. They even wanted to lure Ms. Lin to invest more money.
"Now I understand that these people, this group, might just be sitting in a room to cheat me of my money." Just like that, Ms. Lin's 610,000 yuan went down the drain and will never come back.
After Ms. Lin told the reporter everything, she took out her phone and found that she had been removed from the group chat. "Whether the money can be returned is another matter. I tell my story not only to hope that the criminals will be caught as soon as possible, but also to attract attention, severely punish online fraud, and eradicate this social cancer. Everyone must be vigilant and don't repeat my mistakes!" Ms. Lin said at last.
Why is online fraud so rampant?
Thought-provoking
In recent years, there have been many cases of elderly people being deceived. With the advent of the information age, the elderly are eager to keep up with the pace of young people to understand the Internet. However, faced with various forms of telecommunications network fraud, the elderly have only a single channel for obtaining information, poor identification ability, and insufficient knowledge of network security and anti-fraud, making them more likely to fall into the trap. Therefore, network fraudsters have targeted this vulnerable group, taking advantage of their unfamiliarity with network platforms and network investment channels, and using various methods to lure the elderly to invest their savings in order to achieve their purpose of illegal profit.
A special report on cybercrime judicial big data released by the China Judicial Big Data Research Institute on the 19th showed that more than 30% of the cybercrime cases heard by the people's courts from 2016 to 2018 involved fraud, the highest proportion. Recently, the Supreme People's Court released the "Special Report on Judicial Big Data on Cybercrime Characteristics and Trends", revealing that the main tools for online fraud cases are WeChat, QQ, and Alipay, accounting for 42.21%, 35.23%, and 15.28% respectively. Looking back at the whole process of Ms. Lin being deceived, it was through the two social platforms of WeChat and QQ and the fake trading platform "MateTrader4".
News reading aid
What are the common types of online fraud?
Red envelope and prize scams: People often send links such as "free red envelopes" and "100% winning" on WeChat and text messages. The elderly believe them and click on the links. Some of them automatically download unknown software, while others prompt users to fill in personal information such as name and bank card number. Others state that they need to pay a certain amount of handling fee before they can receive the prize. Failure to pay will be deemed as automatic waiver and breach of contract, and the person will be sued in court.
Health care product fraud: Elderly people generally attach great importance to health care, follow many health and wellness WeChat public accounts, and join some health WeChat groups. Once the elderly express their willingness to buy, the "experts" in these public accounts and WeChat groups will be particularly enthusiastic about the elderly, and ask about their well-being from time to time. The elderly cannot resist the "warmth offensive" and spend high prices to buy these so-called medical and health care products, which are not only ineffective after use, but also harmful to the body.
Online pyramid scheme fraud: In recent years, online pyramid schemes have emerged. Pyramid schemes use smartphones to conduct pyramid schemes through social platforms such as WeChat, QQ groups, and WeChat public accounts. Many of the victims are elderly people. The characteristics of online pyramid schemes are flexible in initiation, fast spread, hidden participants, convenient fund transfer, difficulty in detection and investigation, and wide social harm.
Lawyer reminder
It is best for the elderly to invest and manage their finances with their children
Lawyer Li Jun from Yunnan Tianwaitian Law Firm reminded the elderly that there is no such thing as a free lunch, and they should not be greedy for small gains. It is best to make investment and financial management purchases accompanied by their children, and to learn about it through official and authoritative channels. If they find that they have been cheated, they should report it to the police in a timely manner. They should properly protect all kinds of account passwords, identity information, etc., and do not easily tell others. Whenever there is a mention of the need to transfer money, they should be highly vigilant and consult with trusted acquaintances. (Spring City Evening News) |
