’s short video account pretending to be “Jin Dong” is still active.
The fake "Jin Dong" who defrauded Liu Peiling of 190,000 yuan has been sentenced, but other fake "Jin Dong" attracted Liu Peiling on the Internet and fell in love with her. In order to pretend to be "Jin Dong", 61-year-old Liu Peiling divorced her husband, moved out of her home, and rented alone in Shanghai. With a monthly pension of more than 3,000 yuan, she still couldn't take any time off and found a job. Apart from going to work every day, she would chat with "Jin Dong" on her mobile phone.
"What does he want from you?" The whole family found it difficult to understand. Only Liu Peiling's mother supported the relationship. She had no money to transfer money to "Jin Dong", so she extended a helping hand; Liu Peiling's son Zhang Jinzhi called the police, but she and Liu Peiling blocked it together.
On January 23, 2024, the People's Court of Jing'an District, Shanghai issued a first-instance verdict on the fraud case involving fake actor "Jin Dong". The court held that the defendant Wang Mouyan, for the purpose of illegal possession, instructed the other seven defendants to fake their identities, fabricate facts, and repeatedly defraud others of their property. The actions of the eight defendants all constituted the crime of fraud.
"This matter is far from over." Zhang Jinzhi revealed that his mother was defrauded of tens of thousands of yuan by other accounts pretending to be "Jin Dong". Because the police identified it as another criminal gang, they did not deal with this case. What worries him even more is that his mother is still addicted to it and is in love with other accounts pretending to be "Jin Dong". They even formed a new family group, consisting of mother, grandmother and "Jin Dong". In this group, "Jin Dong"'s identity as his mother's boyfriend was recognized by his grandmother.
In fact, although fake "Jin Dong" scams are not uncommon, such accounts have never been eliminated. On the short video platform, reporters from the Beijing News have received similar video push. A user also sent a private message from a comment, claiming to be "Jin Dong" and asking the reporter to spend 5,000 yuan to invest in his public welfare projects. To prove his identity, he also sent an ID photo with obvious traces of a p-image.
Tao Chenyi, deputy director of the Criminal Tribunal of the Jing'an District People's Court, is the judge in this case. He said that in recent years, crimes of impersonating celebrities or celebrities to commit fraud have become common. This is not the first time that a fake "Jin Dong" has preyed on middle-aged and elderly women. The methods of these criminal gangs are very similar. They take advantage of the psychology of celebrity worship, the algorithms and push mechanisms of social platforms, and the emotional emptiness of the elderly to wait for opportunities to commit crimes and defraud money.
"Jin Dong" never appeared. One fake "Jin Dong" has fallen, but there are still other fake "Jin Dong" active. They use short video platforms to "create" love for middle-aged and elderly women.
broke up with the fake "Jin Dong"
After his mother fell in love with the fake "Jin Dong", Zhang Jinzhi secretly became a "policeman".
After the divorce, Liu Peiling took hundreds of thousands of yuan given by her husband and rented a house alone in Shanghai. Every day at two o'clock, she goes back and forth between her workplace and her residence. No one knows what she is doing on a daily basis. Zhang Jinzhi quietly follows his mother's social platforms and understands her life dynamics through the short videos she posts.
The relationship between mother and son has become delicate. From the moment the son checks his mobile phone, related words such as "Jin Dong" and "love" have become sensitive words in the family. Liu Peiling became extra vigilant. She would not let anyone touch her mobile phone. When she went to take a shower, even if her mobile phone was out of battery, she would take both mobile phones into the bathroom to charge.
But Zhang Jinzhi would still wait for an opportunity every time he went to visit his mother. Every time his mother unlocked her phone, he would pay attention to the position of her fingers out of the corner of his eye to decipher the password, and secretly check his mother's phone whenever he had the opportunity. He would not let go of any fake "Jin Dong". When he saw the transfer records or WeChat IDs, Zhang Jinzhi would secretly take pictures of them for future evidence collection.
In Zhang Jinzhi's heart, everything is far from over. According to his calculations, before the police filed the case, his mother spent almost 500,000 yuan on the fake "Jin Dong", but in the end, only 190,000 yuan was filed and the compensation was refunded. After investigation, it was found that the remaining money was defrauded by other fraud gangs and has not yet been processed. The 190,000 yuan refunded by
was firmly controlled by Zhang Jinzhi. He was afraid that his mother would get deeper into trouble and squander all the money, and even start thinking about real estate.What he was most worried about was that his mother had lost her purest feelings, but there was nothing he could do about it, after all, his mother was still addicted.
Zeng Yuezhen, who is over 70 years old, is also a victim of this fake "Jin Dong" case. Unlike Liu Peiling, Zeng Yuezhen's friendship with "Jin Dong" has always been a secret. No one knows about it except the police and herself. Her life is as usual, except for going to the park and staying at home alone to watch short videos.
After meeting "Jin Dong" online last year, Zeng Yuezhen successively sent multiple small red envelopes to "Jin Dong" and gave rewards in the live broadcast room to support him in "setting up factories across the country." The amount quickly accumulated to thousands. She felt something was wrong and deleted it directly from WeChat. It was not until the end of the year that lawyer Xie Haitao came to her door and offered to compensate the defendant, and the police also approached Zeng Yuezhen for investigation. Only then did she realize that the person who called her "sister" every day was indeed pretending to be "Jin Dong" people.
did not have any certificate, but Xie Haitao still refunded Zeng Yuezhen based on the transfer records. In People's Park, Zeng Yuezhen quietly resumed her old life with the thousands of yuan she had lost. She did not tell any of her children. She sometimes showed fearlessness, "I spend my own money, who can have any objections?" "
Also keeping this secret is Cheng Xiaoyu who lives in Beijing. She kept it secret and always wanted to get her money back, but she was more afraid that her children would know about it. She lowered her voice and urged, "My family is here, don't talk about it anymore. They don't know about it. If they find out, there will be a big fuss!"
Meet "Jin Dong"
"Why are you treating me like you did your assistant?" ?" asked the fake "Jin Dong". He hoped that the sister opposite him would send him some more money. In the case of the fake "Jin Dong", there are countless such chat records. The fake "Jin Dong" called the fan opposite him "sister" ", using ambiguous words to attract the other party to pay.
, without exception, they are all fans of Jin Dong.
Zeng Yue really likes Jin Dong's upright look. She has watched many TV series played by Jin Dong. The characters he plays are always polite, keeping a polite distance from girls, taking care of others like a gentleman, and among girls. The protagonist always comes forward in times of crisis. In the past two or three years, Zeng Yuezhen always likes to watch "Jin Dong" videos on short video platforms, sometimes liking them and sometimes commenting on them.
When her grandchildren grew up, Zeng Yuezhen's life suddenly became leisurely. She still loved to dress up as she did when she was young. She wore dresses, dyed her hair black, and walked in high spirits. Her former co-workers organized parties or trips. , Zeng Yuezhen’s figure is always indispensable. She learned to use her smartphone to post these clips of her life online, and some sisters of the same age exchanged likes and attention with her. If the conversation breaks out, several old sisters will go to a nearby park to play together. Sometimes they sing together, and sometimes they just sit on the bench and chat.
Zeng Yuezhen and her husband were very loving. They fell in love freely while working in Xinjiang, and spent many years caring for each other. After being widowed, she lived alone for a while, and then lived with her children to help take care of her grandchildren. Nearly 20 years have passed since her husband passed away. Zeng Yuezhen still feels sad occasionally when seeing other people in pairs. In real life, there were friends who helped Zeng Yuezhen connect, but they failed in the end.
Someone on the Internet also sent a private message, saying that he wanted to have a relationship with her. But when Zeng Yuezhen opened his account, he saw that he was an older man, with sagging skin and clothes. He "looked slovenly." Zeng Yuezhen simply refused to reply to messages like this. She also had a meeting with a manager. A man from Henan sent a private message to Zeng Yuezhen. Zeng Yuezhen asked him to come to Shanghai and chat in person in the park. For her, making friends requires seeing him in person.
There is only one exception, and that is "Jin Dong".
In 2023, someone on the short video platform sent a private message claiming that he was the star "Jin Dong". "Jin Dong" kept calling "sister" one after another every day. Zeng Yuezhen gradually softened her heart and successively sent "Jin Dong" multiple small red envelopes and gave rewards in the live broadcast room to support him "to set up factories across the country." .
But Zeng Yuezhen quickly woke up and severed contact with "Jin Dong".She has experienced being defrauded of hundreds of thousands of dollars by financial scams. Many small gifts sent by "Jin Dong" - shampoo, red wine, lady's ointment, were packaged in poor quality. Zeng Yuezhen never used them and eventually lost them all.
In this case, there were also victims who, like Zeng Yuezhen, doubted the authenticity of "Jin Dong". Xie Haitao, the main criminal's attorney, has read the file. He said that some victims raised questions, "They said you defrauded me of my money and then ignored me." If they were suspected, the other party would send a "Jin Dong" ID card. ID photo.
Only Liu Peiling is the victim who is still addicted to this day.
Zhang Jinzhi has seen the chat records. The two people talked ambiguously, "Husband, wife, baby, has sister eaten?" They were getting along as if they were in love. My mother updates her short video account almost every day. Sometimes she shoots it casually on her way to work, sometimes she dances to music, and sometimes it is a "co-production" with the fake "Jin Dong" account. The two of them appear together on the same screen. , Liu Peiling responded to what "Jin Dong" said one by one.
Sometimes they talk on the phone, but girls always answer the phone. No one has doubted it. Xie Haitao said that as a star, "Jin Dong" is at a certain distance from ordinary people. These defendants claimed that they were agents and assistants, so the elderly believed them. The fake "Jin Dong" sent a lot of red wine and ladies' ointment, claiming to be gifts, but these were not free. Liu Peiling paid more than 190,000 yuan.
After a long time, even relatives felt that something was not right with Liu Peiling. Someone told Zhang Jinzhi that his mother told everyone that she had met "Jin Dong" and "Jack Ma" and fell in love with "Jin Dong". Zhang Jinzhi said that everyone's logic is clear, "A star is young, handsome, and rich. If he falls in love with you, what does he want?"
But Liu Peiling doesn't believe anything she says. Once When someone mentions it, they get very emotional. The money was controlled by her son, so Liu Peiling asked her mother for money. The son went to report the incident to the police, and Liu Peiling quickly reported the matter to "Jin Dong". But at this time, things were far beyond the control of the two people. Xie Haitao said that the principal criminal wanted to return the money, but because Liu Peiling's bank card had been locked, the money was not successfully returned twice.
The 8 girls behind the fake "Jin Dong"
In fact, behind the fake "Jin Dong" in this case, there are 8 women with an average age of less than 30 years old. Some of them are relatives and friends, some of them met while playing mahjong, and some of them make a living selling swimming rings on the beach. None of them have a high level of education, and the youngest among them is a girl born in 2003.
Xie Haitao learned about the case when he met with the principal criminal. The principal culprit, Wang Mouyan, and two other girls previously worked for another fraud company, and what they did was to defraud money by pretending to be celebrities on short video apps. After they learned this type of fraud pattern, they went out to do it alone.
Subsequently, they established a shell company called an e-commerce company, which was actually a fraudulent company. They have a clear division of labor. Wang Mouyan serves as the boss of the company and is mainly responsible for paying employees and keeping accounts; Gao Mou is responsible for attendance, managing salespersons, etc.; Cai Mou is involved in teaching some members fraud techniques; in addition, there is also a person responsible for communicating with employees. The salesmen Li, Lin and others communicated with netizens. In the first month, everyone's salary is a basic salary. After that, they will not be given a basic salary, but will be given a fraud commission, which is 25% to 30% of the total amount.
Wang Mouyan once said that on the platform, they searched for "Jin Dong" to find some related users and follow them. These people tend to be women and range in age from 40 to 65 years old. They usually don't directly admit that they are celebrities in chat, but when the other party asks, they don't deny it and just say that I am their younger brother. Sometimes, they will also say a few words from time to time about "going to film" and "catch up with announcements" to make the characters realistic. Tao Chenyi, deputy director of the Criminal Tribunal of the Jing'an District People's Court, is the judge in this case. He said that in addition to speaking skills, salesmen will also download some male voice strips from the Internet to confirm their male identity.
Joining a fan club is often the first step, which requires paying a membership fee ranging from 100 yuan to 200 yuan.Next, they will also ask these middle-aged and elderly women to buy linked products, such as ladies' ointment, facial cleanser, and red wine. If they upgrade to become partners, they can also become agents of these products and divide the money. Xie Haitao has searched and found that it is difficult to guarantee the quality of these products. For example, a lady's ointment only sells for 10 yuan on the 1688 website, but it sells for 300 yuan on some platforms. The price difference is huge.
The next step is the ambiguity and confirmation of the "love" relationship. They tend to be very fast. In this case, an old man just praised "Jin Dong sings so well" in the comment area, and then received a private message. The other party proposed a love invitation in the name of "Jin Dong". On November 13, the old man received the message. I agreed to the other party on the 15th.
's "Have you eaten?" and "I miss you" in one-to-one private chats made Xie Haitao feel "like a butcher's plate." Sometimes he feels that the method is poor, just setting the personal information to be exactly the same as "Jin Dong" himself, a photo of "Jin Dong" and a song sung by a boy, "Sister, contact my phone number, I am Dongdi" , or Ruirui", young people can see through it at a glance, but old people can't judge.
had many excuses for asking for money, such as breaking his leg while filming in Russia, or lack of funds to set up a factory in other places. Middle-aged and elderly women who are greeted with greetings all day often give generous gifts of money. Xie Haitao said that each victim was asked to transfer money. Some elderly people did not know how to transfer money. He said in the chat records, "Brother Jin Dong taught me, how long will it take for you to teach me again." The two people called each other "baby" and sometimes pretended to "Jin Dong" will also ask, "Why do you only treat me to milk tea and dinner? Why do you treat me like an assistant?"
As for the meeting, it is an indefinite "painting". As a mysterious star, he can be in Beijing for a while and in Russia for a while. All contacts are postponed, "I will go to Shanghai to meet you in the future."
In the same county, there are many similar scams going on. Perhaps he was worried that others would get a piece of the pie. In this case, the defendant pretending to be "Jin Dong" also instructed the old man in the chat log, "You can't add people randomly. I'm really worried about you." For this reason, They also made up a secret code for meeting each other: winter melon, watermelon, cantaloupe, you are my little fool.
Tao Chenyi said that in recent years, crimes of impersonating celebrities or stars to commit fraud have become commonplace. This is not the first time that cases like the fake "Jin Dong" preying on middle-aged and elderly women have occurred. The methods of these criminal gangs are very similar, taking advantage of the psychology of celebrity worship and social interaction. The algorithm and push mechanism of the platform, as well as the emotional emptiness of the elderly, are waiting for opportunities to commit crimes and defraud money. The amount involved in the case of
amounted to more than 300,000 yuan. When the court finally sentenced him, he took into account that he specifically targeted middle-aged and elderly women to commit fraud. The fraud method was simple, but it caused a bad social impact. In the end, the principal criminal was sentenced to three years in prison, and the remaining defendants were sentenced to probation because they were accomplices.
The fake "Jin Dong" is still active. The
platform has already paid attention to such counterfeit accounts. On August 9, 2022, Kuaishou’s announcement on the management of counterfeit accounts stated that the platform found that some accounts pretended to be other people’s identities to attract traffic, maliciously increase followers, and even realize profits. So far, the platform has punished 280,000 counterfeit accounts.
Yet the scams are still happening. A reporter from the Beijing News found that such videos are still being updated on the short video platform. Without exception, their names contain "Dong", the video picture is "Jin Dong", and in the background music a male voice calls "sister" and talks about love, and a large number of fans in the comment area express their condolences to "Dongdi".
After a Beijing News reporter commented on the account that posted Jin Dong’s video for several days, a user named “Dong Laiye” initiated a private message from the comment. His avatar was a photo of “Jin Dong” and claimed that he was “ "Jin Dong", he would ask whether "sister" had eaten or not and say good morning in private messages.
"Dong Laiye" refused the reporter's request for voice calls and video calls due to busy work and the regulations of the brokerage company, saying "unless you participate in our charity activities."According to "Donglaiye", this project requires investment. The project introduction is a paragraph of text, "This activity is to help poor families, disabled people, poor children's education in poor areas, etc. It is led and supervised by the government. We have more than 20 front-line The celebrities each bring 100 fans to participate in the charity event, which lasts for 20 days. If you participate in the event, you will receive 500 yuan of income every day. Participants need to use 20% of the income to participate in charity. "Sister, this is a public welfare activity, and there is no name for it." "Dong Laiye" said that there is no need to sign a contract to participate in this activity. "My brother will guarantee you." You can also transfer money through Alipay. Use WeChat to transfer money. In order to increase credibility, he also sent an ID card with obvious traces of photoshopped pictures, which he later withdrew. In order to prove its credibility, "Dong Laiye" made a video call through WeChat. Jin Dong's blurry face appeared on the screen, and a voice said, "Sister, did you see it?" But the shape of his mouth in the picture was But inconsistent. Some similar accounts of
are also continuously updated on the short video platform.
A user named "Dongdi misses you" wrote in a video, "Dear Bao, you are the person I care about the most." There is a series of numbers posted below, which is the WeChat account of "brother". Accounts such as "Dongdi is waiting for you" and "Dongdongdi" tell a lot of love stories in short videos, and then intersperse products such as "Queen's Brand Pien Tze Huang Pearl Cream" and "Russian Imported Milk Powder" to guide people to place orders.
Han Ningmeng is still immersed in "Jin Dong"'s live broadcast room. She is in her fifties and works alone in Yanjiao, Hebei Province. The restaurant provides food and accommodation, and her monthly salary is 4,000 yuan. In the restaurant, colleagues chatted with Han Ningmeng from morning to night. But when the last bowl is washed, the busy day is over.
It has been more than two years since her husband passed away due to illness. She always has insomnia during the long nights. Lying on the bed in the dormitory, Han Ningmeng's only entertainment was watching short videos. After chatting with "Jin Dong" for more than two years, Han Ningmeng was also asked to invest money. She never dared to transfer money. At most, she listened to the male voice of "Jin Dong" singing in the live broadcast room of the fake "Jin Dong" account and rewarded her with a few yuan.
Beware of "emotional fraud"
"Did he also say he likes you?" "How far have you talked?" Han Ningmeng hesitated when thinking of the comments from middle-aged and elderly women under the account. She and "Jin Dong" talked every day. She was really embarrassed to confide words like "Sister, I miss you" to a third person, so she just smiled foolishly, "You have also been in love, you don't understand. "
She admitted that she was greedy for the care given by the fake "Jin Dong". When she was alone for a long time, Han Ningmeng sometimes thought of "Jin Dong" in "The First Half of My Life". Whenever the heroine was in trouble, He could always resolve everything inadvertently. This kind of image of protecting her from wind and rain did not exist in her life.
"In fact, the elderly are in need of love. They (criminal suspects) care more about these elderly people than their children." Xie Haitao said that the elderly people involved may not be unable to recognize that this is a scam, and some even The elderly know that this is a fake "Jin Dong", but they like this emotional value. He found that these victims were all elderly people who were relatively empty mentally. Some had been widowed for many years, and some had been separated for a long time. The criminal suspect also admitted that the more emotional value he gave, the more money he would receive.
"The middle-aged and elderly women in this case just wanted to realize their social needs through the Internet, but they did not realize that what she encountered was an 'emotional fraud' controlled by an online fraud group, or a 'pig killing plate.'" Beijing Academy of Social Sciences Wang Jie, deputy director of the Institute of Legal Affairs, has long been engaged in anti-telecom network fraud research. He said, "Emotional needs are basic human needs. Everyone has emotional needs, but the amount of demand is different, and some emotional needs are larger. Some have more emotional needs. "Some middle-aged and elderly women can more easily fulfill their social needs through the Internet.
And it is their shame in speaking that makes case investigation and anti-fraud popularization more difficult.Wang Jie said that for the middle-aged and elderly victims, they suffer not only property losses, but also mental damage, and some may also cause social problems such as family disputes and suicide. The large number of victims and the wide range of people involved in crime will also have a serious impact on social stability.
Wang Jie suggested that on the one hand, the public should improve their Internet literacy and enhance their ability to verify the authenticity of online information. When transferring money through the Internet, it is even more necessary to verify the relevant information, which includes consulting relatives, friends, etc.
To prevent middle-aged and elderly people from being hunted by the "information cocoon" on the Internet, it is necessary to help them realize their social needs through multiple channels, especially to expand offline social networking. Wang Jie said that "nearby" should also belong to middle-aged and elderly people, so that they can be more To get closer to real life instead of being trapped in the virtual world, this requires the efforts of all parties in society.
Xie Haitao feels that the short video platform never limits the flow, but instead promotes such account push. In accordance with relevant regulations such as the Civil Code and the Anti-Telecommunications Network Fraud Law, Wang Jie said that online platforms should comply with industry regulatory regulations and fulfill their responsibilities for preventing and controlling telecommunications network fraud risks. If an online platform knows or should know that a network user is using its network services to infringe on the civil rights of others and fails to take necessary measures, it shall be jointly and severally liable with the network user.
What is quite different from traditional celebrity impersonation fraud is that this case handled in Jing'an District, Shanghai, clearly reveals that telecommunications network fraud crimes are mostly committed by gangs or criminal groups. Wang Jie said that the current fraud criminal groups adopt corporate operations, involving a long industrial chain with many links. It is basically impossible for one person to complete all criminal acts, which requires many criminals. The fact that eight defendants were sentenced in this case is an example of this. Traditional celebrity impersonation fraud is mostly carried out alone and face-to-face. It requires fewer co-offenders and causes relatively small losses.
Tao Chenyi has many years of trial experience. In his opinion, it is not uncommon for people to defraud victims of property by pretending to be entertainment stars or senior government officials. Compared with cases such as the "Pig Killing Plate" case, this case is not difficult. What sparked his thinking was that with the increasing popularity of the Internet, online communication among people became more and more common. "Can there be some regulations specifically for high-imitation accounts?" He said, for example, whether the platform can strengthen the review of those who use celebrity avatars and information. User.
html On May 5, a reporter from the Beijing News reported the above account on the grounds that he was impersonating Jin Dong to conduct traffic fraud. A short video platform said it would verify and process it within 24 hours. About a year has passed sincewas defrauded of money. Zeng Yuezhen can still find a video of "Jin Dong" on the short video platform. The content is the same as what attracted her in the past. It is still a photo of "Jin Dong". The background music is accompanied by a passage starting with "Sister". She will still pay attention, but she doesn’t dare to leave any more messages and can only like silently, “I still don’t know if it’s him or not!”
(Liu Peiling, Zhang Jinzhi, Zeng Yuezhen, Cheng Xiaoyu, and Han Ningmeng are pseudonyms)
Beijing News reporter Wang Chang
editor Chen Xiaoshu
proofreader Liu Yue
