China Central Broadcasting Network, Beijing, January 28 (Correspondent Bai Jiege, Chai Shiwen, Ma Lingfeng) According to China Central Radio and Television Station’s Voice of China’s “News Horizontal” report, the public security and procuratorial organs of Lanzhou City, Gansu Province recently jointly issued a notice to collect The victims of film and television investment fraud cases and related clues have attracted public attention. Some of the films involved starred well-known artists and won awards at film festivals. Why is such a video related to a fraud case? If you lose money investing in a film or television drama, how do the judicial authorities determine whether the person involved is experiencing a risk or a fraud?
Ms. Lin from Lanzhou, Gansu saw the investment movie promotion from a stock group, and she checked the film’s registration information and the qualifications of the relevant companies. I invested 1.2 million yuan and more than 100,000 yuan respectively in the two movies recommended by the stock group.
Ms. Lin said: "I checked and found that the film bureau's registration was indeed there, and the company's corresponding qualifications could also be found on Tianyancha at that time. In the end, it turned out that the movie was indeed released, but it was taken off the shelves two days after it was released. . At that time, they said that the box office was expected to be 700 million yuan. If the movie can reach 700 million yuan, 1.2 million yuan can become 4 million yuan, and the profit is considerable. But after it was released, the box office seemed to be only more than 300,000 yuan. That day I felt The sky is falling. For ordinary people, an investment of more than 1 million yuan is a lifetime savings." The
movie was indeed released, but the box office was not as expected. Many people would consider this an investment risk, but an investigation by the Lanzhou police found that it was suspected of fraud.
Zhang Baocheng, deputy director of the Lanzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau, said: "Many colleagues don't understand and think this is an economic dispute. The movie has been qualified for release and has been released to the public. It only has low box office revenue, so it is generally believed that it is not a fraud. But for those who are accomplices to crimes From the perspective of objective elements and grassroots logic, we have conducted an in-depth study and judgment on this case, including capital flow and information flow. We believe this is a typical telecommunications fraud. In 2020, everyone believes that the box office is a hit and that investing in movies is a In order to make money, criminals take advantage of this herd mentality to lure victims here, using all the methods of attracting fans through electronic fraud."
reviewed the entire process, a suspect who has been arrested told reporters , he is one of the people who promotes film projects to investors in the stock recommendation WeChat group. In such a group, most of them are "floods" like him, and only a few real investors are. "Each company is different. If it's a WeChat group, probably 10 of the 40 people are customers and 30 (people) are trolls. Many customers now come in after seeing advertisements and adding WeChat. Later, you can tell them that the teacher wants to Start a live broadcast and let him enter the live broadcast room."
Zhao Xulin, a police officer from the Third Brigade of the Criminal Police Detachment of Lanzhou City Public Security Bureau, said that the "lecturers" of the stock group use this method to attract investors to film projects. "This WeChat group was established in the name of 'stock recommendation' and 'teacher-student exchange group'. There are 'lecturers' who talk about stocks, and the others are students learning to invest in stocks, but many accounts are staff members of the fan-attracting team. One person uses several WeChat IDs, playing various identities, and using different renderings to make the victim trust the 'lecturer'. The 'lecturer' will gradually fade out of the live broadcast after waiting for the victim to purchase a share of the movie. Previously, the live broadcast was once a day, but later it will become once a week, and then once every half a month. After everyone forgets about it, the WeChat group will be disbanded."
Promotional materials for some of the films involved in the case (main station Photo by reporter Ma Lingfeng)
The films involved in the case released by the Lanzhou Public Security and Procuratorate, some of which starred well-known artists, have been officially released. Pang Jie, a police officer from the Third Brigade of the Criminal Police Detachment of the Lanzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau, said that the key reason why the victims’ investment in these films was considered to be fraud was that the relevant companies fabricated the investment amount of the films and their own shares.
Pang Jie said: "For example, the original investment in this movie was 40 million yuan, and part of the investment share was transferred to the suspect through two or three companies. The suspect may have bought 10% of the share, but when signing the agreement with the victim or During the promotion, it was said that the total cost of the film was about 200 million yuan. If you use this method to defraud, the premium can be up to 5 times.When the victim invested, he had no idea how much the actual investment in the film was. He could only watch the company that transferred his share write the amount in the contract. In fact, the cost of a movie is not very high, and no matter how good the box office is, it cannot make a lot of money. The purpose is to defraud. After the money enters the account, everyone divides it up. ”
Police investigation found that about 60% of the money was given to the personnel responsible for publicity and promotion, that is, the troll team that “attracts followers”, and 40% was used for the company to purchase the film investment share, pay employee wages, rent venues, print contracts, etc. cost, as well as personal squandering. The investment shares of these videos used to attract customers have been resold and "watered" many times, which also makes the police investigation more difficult.
Pang Jie said: "The further you go down, the harder it is to investigate, because the higher the On the other hand, the more price increases there are, the more fishy they are, so they won't tell the truth and won't be too cooperative. "
The police are analyzing the case (Photo by Main Station reporter Ma Lingfeng)
Reporters found that some popular films, including "The King of the Sky" and "The Wandering Earth 2" released in the past two years and this year's Lunar New Year film "Hot and Spicy" All of them have issued statements saying that they were used in false names to carry out false financing. The film involved in the case released by the Lanzhou Public Security and Procuratorate, starring well-known artists, "Mailu Ren", which won multiple nominations and awards at the film festival, has also been involved in other frauds before. case. The Beijing Chaoyang District People's Court and the Beijing No. 3 Intermediate People's Court successively made first-instance and second-instance judgments, holding that the defendant company knew that it did not have any rights to the film except the right to profit, but in the agreement signed with the investors The income rights transfer agreement falsely stated that it was the film's production unit and original script provider, and was responsible for participating in the filming, production, and approval of the film, and the total investment stated in the agreement involved far exceeded the actual total investment in the film. It was determined that it constituted fraud.
Judge Jiang Jun of the Beijing Third Intermediate People's Court told China Voice that whether a loss in an investment in a film and television project is considered a risk or a fraud, in addition to seeing whether the project actually exists, it also depends on whether the investment money is actually used for this Film and television projects.
Jiang Jun said: “Film and television investment is a relatively high-risk field. Film and television projects are highly professional. From project establishment to project revenue, the return cycle is long and information is unequal, which will intensify investment risks. However, normal film and television projects need to be filed. That is to say, the film and television projects are real, and investors' funds must also be used for film and television projects. "
The agreement signed by some investors stipulates that if the film is not released, "the investment share will be repurchased," but Jiang Jun reminded: "It should be said that investment is risky. From a legal perspective, there is no full return of the investment principal and Promise not to lose any money. Because there are many risks and uncertainties in the production, shooting, review of film and television projects and the operating conditions of film and television companies themselves, investors must rationally view the commitments of financiers, such as returning the investment in full when certain conditions are not met. . "
Lanzhou police said that the cases they handled were solved in 2022, but the victims were all over the country and there were many people. So far, some people have not reported the crime.
Pang Jie said: "From the capital flow, it was found that there are about 3,000 people. . There are currently more than 800 cases verified, including those reported to the Lanzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau. "
The public security and procuratorial organs are therefore once again soliciting clues from the public about the case. Anyone with relevant experience of being deceived is asked to contact the Lanzhou police before the end of February this year.
(Source: CNR)
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