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Source: Beijing Evening News

"Running errands and delivering things, each time I get paid around 2,000 yuan" "It's easy to make money"......If you see such part-time job advertisements on social platforms,Don't think it's pie in the sky.。

Recently, the Xicheng police in Beijing uncovered a gold-buying money laundering case. Six suspects were lured into the fraud by such "high-paying part-time jobs" and were remotely controlled by the scammers. They used the stolen money from telecommunications fraud to purchase gold and transfer it, making the losses of the victims of telecommunications fraud difficult to recover.

It is understood that the Beijing court system has tried many similar criminal cases.The "gold miners" who helped buy gold and send gold for money laundering were eventually sentenced for concealing and hiding the proceeds of crime.The police reminded the public to improve their ability to identify telecom fraud and money laundering schemes, not to be tempted by small profits and blindly believe in high-paying part-time jobs, and to avoid becoming "tools" for telecommunications network fraud.

Mysterious customer appears in gold shop

Hundreds of thousands of dollars

One day in late June, two customers came to a jewelry store in Xicheng District. They called each other a couple. After entering the store, they were not in a hurry to choose gold. They wandered around for a while and then suddenly made a purchase. They didn't care about the price of gold or the style. They started with large-gram gold bars and ended up buying small-gram gold jewelry.

During this time, the two of them kept staring at their phones, and kept calculating how to get enough grams, as if they had to spend all the money to complete the task.The two men left the store with gold worth more than 560,000 yuan.

The suspect bought gold in the store (surveillance footage)

A few days later, the Criminal Investigation Brigade of the Xicheng Public Security Bureau received a clue about a money laundering crime. After investigation, three online investment telecommunications fraud cases occurred in Chongqing, Jilin and Yunnan.A total of more than 560,000 yuan of defrauded funds eventually flowed into the same bank card, being consumed in a jewelry store.

By retrieving surveillance video, the police determined that a man and a woman who "bought gold" were major suspects. After careful investigation, the police arrested them in the daily rental housing community where they stayed. Subsequently, four suspects in the gang who were responsible for leading the way, supervising the purchase of gold, and transporting gold were also arrested one after another.

For some time, a group of mysterious gold buyers have appeared in Beijing and other places, spending tens or even millions of dollars at a time to buy gold. Who are they? Why are they being sought by the police?

Travel expenses and accommodation included

Running errands can earn one or two thousand yuan

29-year-old Lu was the manager of a fresh food store in Hunan. One day, when he was surfing the Internet, he saw a video about "making money easily". The words "making money easily" were too attractive to Lu, who worked early and came back late every day but had a low income, so he immediately contacted the other party privately.

"Are you interested in delivering express for others? The reward for running errands is about 2,000 yuan, it's very easy, do you want to do it?" Although Lu also felt that the money came too easily, he couldn't resist the temptation and downloaded a communication software as required by the other party. Later, Lu was pulled into a group chat called "Gold Miner Group" to learn how to buy gold and launder money, and wait for the group to release "work" arrangements. Soon, Lu got his first job opportunity and went to Beijing to buy gold.

The train ticket from Hunan to Beijing was bought by the "superior", and the small hotel in Beijing was also arranged by the "superior". Lu, who had never met the "superior", was like a puppet, following the instructions of the "superior" all the way to Beijing.

When he arrived in Beijing, Lu realized that he was not the only "gold miner" in Beijing. Following the instructions of his superior, he met another "gold miner" at the mall, and the two cooperated with each other.One bought gold bars and the other paid with a credit card. They bought a total of 3,450 grams of investment gold bars and a small amount of gold jewelry, spending more than 1.25 million yuan on the card.。

Later, Lu received another instruction from the group, asking him to take all the gold to a toilet in a nearby park to hand it over. At this time, another receiver had been waiting for a long time. After the two confirmed their identities, Lu handed the heavy gold to the other party, who took the gold to the designated location of the "upline" and handed it to the next receiver, passing it layer by layer...

The abnormal behavior of Lu and others in purchasing large amounts of gold in the mall aroused the suspicion of the sales staff, who secretly reported the case to the police.When Lu returned to the hotel, the police arrived before he could receive any new instructions from online.

Fear of being "taken down with the pot"

Only have a single line of contact with the "upline"

The police officer of the Criminal Investigation Brigade of Xicheng Public Security Bureau told reporters,Buying gold to launder money is a "derivative" of telecommunications and Internet fraud crimes in recent yearsIn the past, after the fraudsters succeeded, they would use multiple bank cards to transfer money one level at a time, quickly disperse the stolen money and finally withdraw cash, in order to evade investigation and interception. As the national public security organs have been carrying out the card-cutting operation for nearly four years, the crackdown on the illegal opening and selling of bank cards has become increasingly severe, and the control over the application and use of bank cards has become increasingly strict. It is becoming increasingly difficult for fraudsters to obtain other people's bank cards and transfer money to withdraw cash, so they have come up with a method of buying gold immediately after defrauding the stolen money and quickly laundering the money.

Moreover, gold, as a precious metal, can not only be traded internationally, but can also be melted and divided, making it impossible to match it with the stolen money, thus increasing the difficulty for the police to recover the stolen money.

"Most of the perpetrators of these telecom frauds are foreign organizations, and they go to great lengths to transfer the stolen money to buy gold." The police officer in charge of the case gave the reporter an example of a case that was recently cracked. First, they posted advertisements for high-paying part-time jobs and easy money to attract people who want to make quick money. Some even posted fake loan advertisements, and then told the applicants that their qualifications did not meet the standards, but they could provide money-making opportunities to lure others into the trap.

After recruiting the "gold miners", the "online" team will cover their travel expenses and accommodation and temporarily gather them together from all over the world.Some of these people give out bank cards, some buy gold, some are responsible for transporting gold, and in order to prevent being "robbed by cheats", there are also people who specifically act as "supervisors" to supervise the purchase and delivery of gold.At this point, a complete money laundering gang was formed.

The entire criminal process is like a spy movie. These "gold miners" only have a single line of contact with their "superiors" to receive instructions. They do not know each other, cannot contact each other privately, and do not know what others are doing, for fear of being "caught in the act". Their "superiors" arrange for them to live in daily rental houses, and they change their places of stay almost every day. They do not even order takeout, and wear hats and masks when they go out to hide their whereabouts as much as possible.

The suspect bought gold while following the instructions in the "online" group

On the day of the operation, the "supervisor" first determined the clothing characteristics of the gold buyer on that day, arranged "supervisors" to watch the gold buyer in the mall, and reported their actions in real time. The gold buyer was extremely "efficient". As soon as the stolen money arrived in the bank card, it was quickly spent within a few minutes. After buying the gold, the gold buyer followed the "supervisor's" requirements and went to a nearby hidden location to give the gold to a person wearing a hat and holding a yellow handbag. The "gold miners" did not even talk to each other face to face, but only sent messages in the group to confirm each other's identity based on physical characteristics, and then transferred the gold.

The gold is transferred over and over again through this handover process and is eventually taken abroad.

Reminder: Don’t trust “high salary”

Beware of becoming a "tool" for online fraud

"In the eyes of the boss, you are all chess pieces that can be discarded at any time." When the gold buyer Lu and his accomplices were tried in court, they lowered their heads as they listened to the presiding judge's admonition.The Beijing Xicheng Court sentenced several people to prison terms ranging from 2 years to 1 year and 10 months for the crime of concealing and hiding the proceeds of crime, and imposed fines.。

It is understood that the Beijing court system has tried many similar cases. Although the telecommunications fraudsters hiding abroad have not been arrested, the "gold miners" who helped buy and deliver gold have all become prisoners.

my country's criminal law stipulates that anyone who knowingly conceals, transfers, purchases, sells on behalf of others, or conceals or hides criminal proceeds and the proceeds therefrom shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years, criminal detention, or public surveillance, and shall be fined or fined alone; if the circumstances are serious, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than seven years, and shall be fined.

These "gold miners" knew that the money was stolen, but they organized and planned to convert it into gold and transport it to other places to conceal it.It has seriously hindered the normal activities of the public security organs in investigating relevant criminals and has constituted the crime of concealing and hiding the proceeds of crime.

The court held that, although these people had no premeditation or collusion before committing the acts involved in the case, under the arrangement and instructions of their "superiors", they not only knew the nature and purpose of their participation in the acts, but also clearly knew the existence of their co-defendants and their functions in the joint crime. However, they were all motivated by earning illegal gains, and through their respective actions, they coordinated and linked with each other and jointly contributed to the cover-up and concealment of the illegal proceeds of the upstream crime. Therefore, they should all bear joint criminal responsibility for the ultimate consequences of the overall crime.

Police arrested the suspect

The police officer in charge of the case told reporters that although some "gold miners" did not know that they would be involved in crime at first, when they found out that they were helping the scammers to launder money, they thought that if they stopped, they would not only not get paid, but also have to pay for the trip, so they took the chance and went along with the gang. Especially those suspects who were hired to lead the way and supervise, they thought that they did not touch the gold bars, but were just leading the way and keeping an eye on the gang, and they would not get into much trouble. "In fact, these 'tool men' knew that their 'jobs' were not normal, but they could not resist the temptation of profit."

The police said that there are many ways for scammers to recruit "tools", but the core of them is to use easy money as bait.The public must be wary of the "high salary reward" trap set by fraudsters and raise awareness of identifying and preventing telecommunications fraud.Behaviors such as "leading the way", "tailing" and "running errands" may all be suspected of being illegal and criminal. Once you find that the "work" is unreasonable and illogical, you must immediately stop the relevant behavior and report it to the police in a timely manner. Do not become a "tool" for telecommunications network fraud, making wedding clothes for others and ending up in jail yourself.

In response to the crime of buying gold and laundering money,The Xicheng police also carried out police-enterprise cooperation with shopping malls and stores selling gold in the area.Provide training to sales staff to improve their awareness and ability to promptly detect crimes and report them to the police, squeeze the space for crime to the greatest extent possible, intercept defrauded funds, and recover the stolen money and losses for the deceived people.

Beijing Evening News reporter Sun Ying