Tianjin Evening News reported that recently, two men rented private houses to set up a "leather bag company", set up a "phishing website", published false information about selling steel, and lured customers to take the bait at low prices. They took the money and ran away, but when they tried to defraud again, they were shot dead by the city's Beichen police.
In early April 2012, Mr. Wang, who was engaged in the steel business in Inner Mongolia, was looking for business opportunities on the Internet and browsed the website and product advertisements of a steel trading company in Beichen District, Tianjin. He felt that the company's sales price for steel of the same quality was very low. Mr. Wang called for consultation based on the contact information displayed on the web page, and the salesman came to talk, which was all "jargon" in the steel business. Subsequently, Mr. Wang added the company's QQ account specifically for business contact for further negotiations, and soon reached an intention to purchase a batch of steel products at a price of 129,000 yuan. Mr. Wang wanted to complete the business as soon as possible, thinking that the other party was an expert, so he took it lightly, reached an agreement with only a verbal commitment, and then remitted the above money to the other party's bank account.
A few days later, Mr. Wang did not receive the delivery notice, the company phone and the salesperson’s mobile phone could not be reached, and the company website could not be opened. I found that the company address was "empty". Mr. Wang realized that he had been deceived and reported the case to the public security organ.
The Fifth Brigade of the Criminal Investigation Bureau of the Beichen Branch of the Public Security Bureau initiated an investigation and found that the other party was a "leather bag company". He used someone else's ID card to register the name of an individual business owner with the industrial and commercial department through an intermediary, posted false information through a phishing website, defrauded Mr. Wang of remittances, and then absconded after withdrawing all the payment on the same day. According to the analysis of the police handling the case, the other party was obviously premeditated, organized and coordinated, and was proficient in the steel business, and might use the same method to defraud again. On the one hand, the police handling the case conducted a large number of interviews based on the clues provided by Mr. Wang. On the other hand, they searched closely for similar advertising information on the Internet. They quickly located the website of another steel trading company. Its web page style and information content were similar to the website that defrauded Mr. Wang. Very similar.
The policeman handling the case pretended to be a customer ordering steel and contacted the other party. Sure enough, the other party's sales techniques were "exactly the same" as the suspect's. The police followed the investigation and located the "leather bag company" in a building in Wuqing District. On April 26, the police who had been working on the case for many days cleared the den and captured the suspects Meng (25 years old) and Zhang (24 years old) on the spot. They also found computers, telephones, mobile phones and other crime tools in the room.
After interrogation, it was found that Meng and Zhang were both from Liaocheng City, Shandong Province. Because their hometown is the famous "hometown of steel pipes", many relatives and friends are also doing steel business in their hometown, Tianjin Beichen, Wuxi and other places. Many people have made a fortune from fraudulent or counterfeit goods. Both became "experts" in this area. Because they love leisure and hate work, they want to make quick money. After premeditation, they registered the company name through an illegal intermediary and purchased a temporary phishing website online to publish false information. After they succeeded in committing the fraud, they immediately absconded with the money and moved to another location to commit fraud again. I didn't expect to be caught so soon. Currently, the two people have been detained under criminal detention on suspicion of fraud, and the case is still under further investigation.