Rewards for tip-offs

　　Nan Du Shenzhen News Tip-off Hotline: 0755-82121212

　　This year, the online casino and how to find it has attracted great attention due to its volatile price fluctuations. Since the regulatory authorities issued a notice, clarifying the hazards of investing in online casinos and how to find them and relevant regulatory provisions, currently, the three major domestic trading platforms have all made statements or explicitly stated that they will shut down services targeting mainland Chinese users by the end of the year.

　　Online casino and How to find it. The concealed characteristics of investment are often exploited, causing investors to lose personal property without understanding the situation. A citizen named Miss Zhang from Shenzhen recently invested 300,000 yuan in the Online casino and How to find it platform on the BiLi APP through an introduction by others. When she liquidated and withdrew on October 28, not only was the money not received, but the APP also could not be opened, and she was blocked by platform customer service personnel.

　　Screenshot of the BiLi APP homepage.

　　Miss Zhang said that there is currently a victim exchange group, and she knows that the total amount defrauded exceeds 20 million yuan. A lady named Yan, located in Beijing, told a reporter from the Southern Metropolis Daily that she and Miss Zhang are in different communication groups, but the events they experienced are similar. The assets she invested in the BiLi platform include 110,000 US dollars, nearly 200,000 yuan, 1.08 Bitcoin, and 11 Ether, which, according to the market price at the time, have exceeded a million yuan. And the time from contacting the same ‘fraudster’ to the loss of funds is only 2 months. Up to now, both Miss Zhang and Miss Yan have reported the case, with Miss Zhang receiving a police case filing notice on November 2, and Miss Yan learning on November 30 that her reported case has been filed.

　　Fall into a scam

　　Private domain links and private domain live broadcast rooms. This group has not been publicly promoted.

　　In August this year, Miss Zhang received a web link from her family, which opened to an article about a person named Li Haofeng’s stock market风云录. The article states that Li Haofeng is a ‘senior investment expert’ invited by China Finance Network to share his stock market风云录, claiming that he is familiar with various methods of manipulators and is good at following them, and has shared Li Haofeng’s three secrets for stock trading. At the end of the article, there is Li Haofeng’s WeChat ID, stating that Li has established a green exchange group for retail investors, and those who want to learn stock trading skills to turn losses into profits can add his WeChat. It solemnly declares that no fees will be charged.

　　Later, the Southern Metropolis Daily reporter observed the link and found that the columns such as ‘Morning Report’, ‘Market Information’, and ‘Stock Market Hotspots’ at the top of the webpage, which should normally be clickable, actually could not be redirected. The article is actually a static, private domain forwarded link and has not been published on any public website.

　　Miss Zhang said, ‘I have a curiosity, I want to add (WeChat) first and then observe,’ initially maintaining a cautious attitude towards Li and not really believing the aforementioned article. Adding Li’s WeChat was just out of curiosity, wanting to see the other person’s capabilities, and the rest are later matters, which can be considered temporarily.

　　In fact, many people who have the same thoughts as Miss Zhang have added Li’s WeChat. A lady named Yan, located in Beijing, told a reporter that she and Miss Zhang were both aware of Li at the same time, and the two were in different communication groups, ‘The group I am in is number 90s, with 46 people,’ Miss Yan said.

　　After Mrs. Zhang, Mrs. Yan, and others made contact with Li, they were each added to the stock exchange group. Mrs. Zhang said that Li initially gave many live classes to the members of the group, which was a private domain link, sent only in the group, and at the same time, it was necessary to log in to a specific account to enter the live streaming room.sports betting and The latest method

　　According to the information provided by Mrs. Zhang, the live streaming room held multiple live broadcasts every working day at fixed time periods, including from 9:00 to 10:00 in the morning, from 1:00 to 3:00 in the afternoon, from 7:30 to 9:30 in the evening, and so on… The instructors were not only Li but also named Zeng Ziqiang, Lin Zifang, and others, ‘This group (three instructors and assistants, etc.) called themselves Caisheng Society externally.

　　Mrs. Zhang said, ‘From 9:20 to 10:30, the class was taught by Zeng Ziqiang, 80% of which were correct,’ at the time, she thought that the analysis of individual stocks in the live class was almost all correct and very accurate.

　　Mrs. Zhang provided the group chat materials.

　　Claiming to have insider information that can be traded, raising funds from investors

　　In the live streaming room, not only were stocks recommended, but Mrs. Zhang said that Lin Zifang and others began to introduce their own experiences to the members, and at the same time, they involved Online casino and How to find it. ‘Telling stories, Lin Zifang said that he entered the market in 2007, lost a lot, and then went to Taiwan, where he met a mentor and invested 2 million yuan into Bitcoin, which turned into 2 billion yuan after 2 years,’ Mrs. Zhang recalled, and the people from Caisheng Society said in the live streaming room that they had a private equity fund, and they promoted their recent plan to make a 600% return target stock to attract members.

　　Mrs. Zhang provided the group chat materials.

　　Mrs. Zhang said, ‘I haven’t moved, just listening to them,’ until one night, the other party invited a senior executive surnamed Wang, who said that his company’s stock had been listed as special treatment, but was preparing for a major project restructuring, and if there was a 7.5 billion yuan investment, it could double.

　　Mrs. Zhang’s experience was identical to that of Mrs. Yan in Beijing. ‘In the group, they said they would operate the target stock, a major asset restructuring, and asked everyone to declare funds, but they did not say which company, saying it was违规 to leak insider information,’ Mrs. Yan said.

　　Mrs. Zhang said, ‘I was thinking of investing around 30,000 yuan to try it out,’ as the people from Caisheng Society proposed a 600% return stock plan, many people in the group began to declare funds and take names, and in this atmosphere, she also felt a bit eager to try.

　　Guiding investment in Online casino and How to find it with the excuse of insufficient capital

　　After a period of fund-raising, Li said that there was still a 35% shortfall. Mrs. Zhang said, ‘Zeng Ziqiang proposed to invest in Online casino and How to find it, doubling the principal and then withdrawing to bid for shares, which would be enough.’

　　On the part of Mrs. Yan, the same reason was given: ‘Later, it was said that the number did not reach the expected result, and the cooperative party was very angry, saying how could there be so little, and they proposed to invest in Online casino and How to find it,’ Mrs. Yan said.

　　Ms. Zhang recalled, ‘Li then pretended to be unfamiliar with online casinos and was not in favor of them,’ Ms. Zhang said. Under the repeated requests of group members, who now seem like ‘shills,’ Li changed his tune and claimed to have friends in Singapore, promising to first understand. In the later live broadcast session, Li showed a set of materials, claiming it was a platform developed by a regular company in Singapore: Coin Interest APP, and said that 8,000 out of the 10,000 people watching the live broadcast room agreed to invest in online casinos and how to find them, with an agreement to withdraw 35% of the profits after one week and transfer the target stock.’

　　Ms. Zhang provided a material photo

　　Experienced investors also fell into the trap

　　According to the information provided by Ms. Zhang, on the simple homepage of the Coin Interest APP, the appreciation of SDC, LINK, FIL, and other online casinos and how to find them was displayed. The APP also includes market trends, trading, OTC, assets, and other functions. After Ms. Zhang registered an account on the Coin Interest APP, the platform customer service connected with her through QQ to guide her through the process of opening an account, recharging, and purchasing designated currencies.

　　The customer service instructed Ms. Zhang to buy Tether (USDT) by saying, ‘Send me the order number, I will help you query the account of the USDT exchange merchant, and then you can copy it to the mobile bank for payment. After the payment is completed, send me the payment screenshot,’ in a screenshot provided by Ms. Zhang.

　　The Coin Interest APP customer service guided Ms. Zhang in trading.

　　In short, all the online casinos and how to find them purchased by Ms. Zhang on the Coin Interest platform were paid for by transferring money to the account of the exchange merchant privately. After the customer service confirmed the screenshot of the transfer, a holding record would appear on Ms. Zhang’s platform account.

　　Ms. Zhang said, ‘I transferred 200,000 yuan to Jinxia Network Technology Co., Ltd., and 100,000 yuan to a private account in the name of Zheng Guang,’ Ms. Zhang said, ‘The money was transferred in on October 19th, and the plan was to start locking the warehouse on October 28th, withdraw 300,000 yuan first, and keep the rest for later.’

　　Ms. Zhang said, ‘There are about 37 people in the group, all of whom were deceived in the same period as me.’ According to the information she provided, an investor, after receiving a message from the Coin Interest APP customer service and transferring money to Shenyang Yu Zhenkun Human Resources Service Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as ‘Shenyang Yu Zhenkun Company’), sent a screenshot of the transfer to the customer service, and the amount of this transfer was nearly 100,000 yuan.

　　Ms. Zhang provided another investor’s bank transfer record.

　　In fact, Ms. Yan from Beijing has lived abroad for a long time before, with investment experience in online casinos and how to find them, and did not easily believe in the Coin Interest APP. Ms. Yan once tested the other party: ‘The state has issued documents, Huobi has not been closed, so I asked them if we could withdraw,’ Ms. Yan recalled, and then there were claims that the customer service and managers of the Coin Interest platform frequently contacted her for explanations, emphasizing that the platform was registered in Singapore and other places.

　　“我就尝试提了500USDT，还真提出来了，”严女士表示，在币利平台方面的人解释过后，她还是不敢信任该平台，担心关键的提现环节出现意外，因此特意试了一次。严女士感叹，提取前的质疑似乎加强了对方的警惕心理，那次的成功提取竟也成了“请君入瓮”。

　　以交“保证金”加速提现之名再次收割

　　张女士表示，按照黎定下的规则，所有人在锁仓一周后清仓。

　　时间到了约定的10月28日，张女士与严女士均发现，币利APP的提现无法到账，“客服说充值2万美金，成为VIP，随提随到账，”张女士表示，其并未跟随。北京的严女士因投入该平台的资金较大，交了4.95万元的保证金。

　　“11万美金，近20万人民币，还有1.08个比特币、11个以太币，”严女士表示，这些资产陆续投入了币利APP，对方说提现的人都排队了，但保证金可以加速，情急之下便交了保证金。

　　根据严女士提供信息，其在10月22日从火币网提出了1.08个比特币、11.6个以太币，在10月中下旬陆续向沈阳煜振坤公司等多家企业、个人转出近20万元资产。

　　“对方说排到明天中午，29日早上还联系说中午就到了，”严女士表示，当日其登录币利APP，个人账户还在，但其申请提现的记录已消失，彼时联系对方，已被拉黑。

　　“已经报案了，”张女士与严女士均表示。11月2日，张女士收到警方立案告知书，而严女士也在11月30日获悉其所呈案情亦被立案。

　　张女士与严女士均表示，对于每个家庭而言，无论多少的损失都是沉重的打击，希望同样的事件不再重演。

　　卷土重来

　　迹象1：

　　新人营销推文及手法高度相似

　　报案后，张女士未主动退出股票群或者删除黎等相关人员，并持续对这一群体保持了关注。根据张女士提供链接，记者发现黎之后，又再出现王鸿山、唐天胜等人，故伎重施，流程与此前财昇社手法高度相似。

　　王、唐两人也各有一篇附带了微信号的营销文章。对比黎、王、唐三人文章，无论是个人经历还是3点炒股秘诀，均如出一辙。而更为巧合的是，3篇文中贴出的3人最近交易账户详情也一模一样，包括持有记录截图中透露出的总资产、总盈亏、当日盈亏，持有的5只股票等。

　　The screenshots of the three trading accounts in the three marketing articles are suspected to be the same.

　　The Nan Du journalist then joined Tang Tian Sheng’s communication group. In the group, Tang Tian Sheng called himself ‘Tang Ren Union’, recommended stocks and analyzed the stock market every day in the group, and the members of the group often said that they followed Tang’s instructions and made profits. On December 6, Tang Tian Sheng said in the group that the ‘200% Cross-Year Profit Campaign’ was about to begin.

　　On that day, Tang told his plan in the live broadcast room and said that he would announce the ‘Unified Stock Building Individual Stocks’ the next day. Wang also introduced the concept of target stocks in the live broadcast room. This time it is a ‘Chinese-listed A-share company that is about to go public through a reverse merger’, and Wang said in the live broadcast room that the company has started to bid to private fund management institutions, to screen the qualifications of private funds, and revealed that they can join ‘Niutu Research Institute’ to participate in a group.

　　The journalist logged into the live broadcast of the Niutu Research Institute and identified the voice of Wang Hongshan as the current Li on that day.

　　Ms. Zhang said that Li had previously used this method to put forward the concept of target stocks to attract members to follow.

　　It is noteworthy that the three live broadcast rooms opened by Li, Tang, and Wang have never shown their own images. The live broadcast images show individual stock K-line charts or document materials, and the aforementioned three people only showed their voices. ‘The current Wang is the former Li,’ said Ms. Zhang, who judged from the voice that Wang and Li are the same person.

　　Sign 2:

　　Personal public information is questionable

　　On November 29, when the Nan Du journalist first came across Tang Tian Sheng’s link, through the search platform, no more information about Tang Tian Sheng was found. On December 2, Tang Tian Sheng’s assistant sent a screenshot of Tang Tian Sheng’s introduction on 百度百科 to the communication group.

　　The journalist checked the百度百科 records and found that in the introduction of Tang Tian Sheng, two references were cited. The first one is the report ‘Return to A-share: Giant Network’s 13 billion reverse merger was approved’ issued by 人民网.

　　In the web snapshot of the reference verified by the Baidu APP, the journalist found that the report mentioned Tang Tian Sheng and said: ‘As the person in charge of this M&A operation, Tang Tian Sheng, the founder of Tang Ren Union, said to the People’s Daily reporter’.

　　According to the snapshot, the website that published the report is ‘People’s News Website’, with the release date being March 4, 2016. The journalist searched through the search platform and found that the report with the same name and date came from the Beijing News. Comparing the content of the two reports, except for the different statements made by Tang Tian Sheng, the rest are the samelottery victory，come on baby. In the latter report, the corresponding content of Tang Tian Sheng is: ‘A securities person engaged in M&A said to the Beijing News reporter’.

　　The second reference mentioned is from the ‘2020-2021 Real Account Trading Competition Award Ceremony Held Successfully’ issued by创业邦. In the web snapshot of this material, the article was published on the official website of 创业邦 on March 26, 2021, with Tang Tian Sheng appearing as the runner-up in this competition.

　　而该文无法在搜索平台以及创业邦官网查到。

　　And the article cannot be found on search platforms or the Chuanming Bang official website.

　　Sign three:

　　Key enterprise registered addresses are located on the same street

　　The Nanfang Journalist noticed that the WeChat group established by Tang was in a public account, the subject of which was Guangzhou Zeyunlai Investment Development Co., Ltd. Tianyancha information shows that Zeyunlai was established on July 19th this year, with Mo Shengman as the legal representative, and the registered address is No. 1 Yicun East Road, Tianhe District, Guangzhou.

　　During the process of Ms. Zhang’s contact with Li, multiple enterprise WeChat group communication records were also generated, and the ‘position’ was changed very frequently, with related companies spread all over the country.

　　According to the information provided by Ms. Zhang, there are 2 companies that may be related to Li, namely Changyang Board Co., Ltd. and Fan Duan Entertainment. According to Tianyancha information, the two companies may be Xi’an Xian New District Building Union Changyang Board Co., Ltd. registered in Shaanxi Xi’an New District, with Wang Jiubao as the legal representative; and Sichuan Gonghui Fan Duan Entertainment Co., Ltd. registered in Chengdu, Sichuan, with Lu Zesheng as the legal representative. The establishment date of the aforementioned two companies is also this September.

　　Ms. Zhang provided another investor’s enterprise WeChat contact records, showing that there are 4 companies, including Guangzhou Hongjingze Education Consulting Co., Ltd., which was established in August this year and has Zhang Kunkun as the legal representative.

　　It is worth noting that the registered address of Hongjingze Company is also located on Yicun East Road, Tianhe District, Guangzhou, which is the same as the registered address of Guangzhou Zeyunlai Company related to Tang Tian Sheng.

　　In addition, there are 80 companies associated with the legal representative Mo Shengman of Zeyunlai Company, which were all densely registered on July 18th and 19th this year. Among them, the legal representatives of 40 companies are Mo Shengman, and the senior management and shareholders of the remaining 40 companies are also Mo Shengman.

　　“I only realized now why he changed us to more than a dozen enterprise WeChat accounts,” said Ms. Zhang. During the time of Li’s class, the enterprise WeChat groups were frequently changed, and the shortest time was nearly one or two days before they were abandoned. The explanation given by Li’s side was that several institutions were watching them and not allowing them to provide free courses. The actual reason was that they were reported by someone.

　　Regulatory Trend

　　The three major domestic Online casino and How to find it trading platforms announced the closure of related transactions this year.

　　On December 5th, Huobi Global (a major Online casino and How to find it trading platform) announced that it will shut down the cryptocurrency deposit function for mainland Chinese users at 11 am on December 14th; stop the cryptocurrency trading function for mainland Chinese users at 11 am on December 15th; and at 24:00 on December 31st, delist the OTC CNY trading and stop providing any asset airdrop services to mainland Chinese users. The withdrawal function will continue to be available for 1 to 2 years (the specific closure time will be announced separately).

　　Huobi Global (火币全球) issued an announcement.

　　This action is in response to the joint notice issued by the People’s Bank of China, China Insurance Regulatory Commission, and other ten ministries and commissions on September 24th, titled ‘Notice on Further Preventing and Handling the Risks of Speculation and Manipulation in Online casino and How to find it Trading’ (hereinafter referred to as the ‘Notice’). The Notice clearly states that Online casino and How to find it does not have the same legal status as legal currency, and related business activities of Online casino and How to find it are illegal financial activities. It is also illegal financial activities for overseas Online casino and How to find it exchanges to provide services to residents in our country through the Internet.

　　Subsequently, the three major trading platforms successively made statements or announced their decisions for Chinese mainland users.

　　On the evening of September 24th, Huobi stopped the registration of new users in the Chinese mainland, and two days later, it stated that for existing users whose identity authentication is for the Chinese mainland, it plans to complete the withdrawal before December 31, 2021.

　　On October 13th, Binance (币安) announced that Binance c2c will be delisted from the CNY trading area at 24:00 on December 31, 2021 (Beijing Time). At the same time, Binance will conduct a review of the platform users. If the platform finds users from the Chinese mainland, the corresponding accounts will be switched to the ‘only withdrawal allowed’ mode, and users will only be able to perform withdrawal, cancel orders, redemption, and close positions operations.

　　On October 13th, the OKEx platform issued a notice stating that it has shifted its business focus to the international market since September 2017 and does not promote or provide services to the Chinese mainland market. Its website is inaccessible in the Chinese mainland, and its APP has been removed from all Chinese mainland application markets.

　　Legal Analysis

　　The platform transactions may be fictitious and涉嫌诈骗

　　In the industry, Huobi, OKEx, and Binance are usually referred to as the top three domestic Online casino and How to find it exchanges. A person who had a brief buying and selling experience on the OKEx platform told the reporter that even on large platforms, both buyers and sellers currently need to use off-platform funds to complete transactions. This rule itself implies risks and loopholes, and secondly, investors may not be familiar enough with Online casino and How to find it, and there are indeed many fake online trading platforms on the Internet.

　　In April of this year, the Jiangsu police broke a virtual currency fraud case, apprehending 58 people and involving an amount of 10 million yuan. Through further investigation, the police preliminarily found that the platform behind this case is a criminal gang that carries out fraud through virtual currency contract trading platforms.

　　The police investigation found that the platform actually did not engage in transactions with the virtual currency market, which means that the virtual currency has always been in the background account. The deceived people seem to be trading through the platform, but in fact, what they see are just the data displayed by the platform.

　　Wang Zhiyuan, Associate Dean and Professor of the Criminal Judicial College of China University of Political Science and Law, told the reporter of Southern Metropolis Daily that if the Coin Profit APP did not actually carry out Online casino and How to find it transactions, because the transaction records and profit information of the APP could be completely fictional, in this case, it has the intention of illegal possession and belongs to the crime of fraud (collective fraud).

　　Additionally, if the APP indeed uses the victims’ funds for Online casino and How to find it transactions, but does not have the intention of illegal possession, it can be identified as the crime of illegal吸收public deposit. Due to a series of subsequent behaviors in the case, such as dissolving chat groups and disappearing with the money, it is more in line with the characteristics of the crime of fraud.

　　Experts suggest that collective rights protection can reduce costs.

　　Wang Zhiyuan expressed that the attitude of the country towards the plight of Madam Zhang and others is to resolutely crack down on Online casino and How to find it and its related transactions; the court’s attitude towards the judgment of related transactions is that ‘the plaintiff knew that the involved currency was Online casino and How to find it, yet still purchased from the defendant. The behavior of buying and selling Online casino and How to find it between the two parties is not protected by law, and the investment risks arising therefrom are borne by the plaintiff himself. Therefore, all the plaintiff’s claims are not supported’, which means that individuals bear all the risks.

　　However, the victims do not need to bear additional responsibilities either, because the current laws and regulations have not set any relevant legal liabilities for investments in Online casino and How to find it outside of the activities such as ‘carrying out exchange business between legal currency and Online casino and How to find it’, ‘exchange business between Online casino and How to find it’, ‘buying and selling Online casino and How to find it as a central counterparty’, ‘providing information intermediary and pricing services for Online casino and How to find it trading’, ‘issuing tokens for financing and Online casino and How to find it derivative trading’, and ‘knowingly or should have known about engaging in related Online casino and How to find it business, yet still providing marketing, payment settlement, and technical support services’. To date, there is no legal protection for the agreements signed merely.

　　The fourth article of the aforementioned ‘Notice’ clearly states that participating in Online casino and How to find it investment and trading activities involves legal risks. Any legal entity, unincorporated organization, and natural person who invests in Online casino and How to find it and related derivative products, violates public order and good customs, the relevant civil legal acts are invalid, and the losses caused thereby are borne by themselves; those suspected of destroying financial order and endangering financial security shall be investigated and handled by relevant departments in accordance with the law.

　　It is still questionable whether the platform currency APP entered by Ms. Zhang is a ‘serious’ Online casino and How to find it trading platform. After she transferred money, it is difficult to confirm whether the holding records displayed on the platform account indeed owned Online casino and How to find it . Currently, Ms. Zhang can only confirm that when she chose to withdraw funds, the money could not be credited, and the customer service informed her that she could withdraw 20,000 US dollars at any time. After that, the platform could not be opened, and the WeChat account previously contacted no longer replied to messages.

　　Wang Zhiyuan suggests that investors can report to the actual operation or operation place of the involved platform for evidence collection and investigation. In addition, victims can collectively seek justice to reduce the cost of seeking justice. The specific evidence materials generally include: identity information, account information, transaction information, fund information, and communication information with platform personnel, among other routine materials.

　　Reminder

　　From the perspective of regulatory policy, China has always adopted a severe attitude towards the issuance, financing, trading, and speculation of Online casino and How to find it . The act of purchasing Online casino and How to find it is not legally protected in China, and the relevant agreements signed as a result are also not legally protected. Moreover, it is difficult to seek compensation after being victimized, and it is difficult to collect evidence.

　　Online casino and How to find it is several times the volatility of general stocks, not lacking participants who are financially ‘swept clean’ overnight due to leverage, and it is difficult to analyze with traditional fundamental analysis and valuation methods. It is more like an alternative speculative product and is not suitable for ordinary investors.

　　Ordinary investors should protect their personal property and stay away from Online casino and How to find it .

　　Reported by Nan Du Journalists Ye Linfang

　　Editor: Li Bin