Warning: "Small Deals" Behind Scams and Money Laundering!

The Beijing Daily (Reporter: Yue Pin-yu, Dong Han-han) "1 yuan blueberries", "1 yuan car wash", "1 yuan buy a pot"...... Such promotional ads are common in our daily lives, but are these "good deals" really what they seem to be? On January 28th, the Beijing Daily reporter discovered that nearby the Spring Festival, various "promotional" activities and marketing tactics are emerging, but behind them lies the criminal scheme of POS card fraud, which may even turn individuals into money launderers.

Recently, the Guangzhou Railway Police Department cracked down on a criminal group that specialized in modifying POS machines and producing fake cards to carry out credit card fraud. The group was dismantled, with 93 suspects arrested, 9 gangs smashed, and 11 hideouts destroyed. A large batch of illegal tools, including modified POS machines, white cards, mobile phones, computers, and POS machine modification equipment, were seized. The value of the case is over 1033 million yuan.

"We noticed two identical complaints when we reviewed passenger complaints last year. Both complained that they had been approached by people selling low-priced goods on trains, only to find that their bank cards had been stolen afterwards." According to Lin Si-yi, deputy director of the Guangzhou Railway Police Department, police found that both passengers were approached by individuals who introduced themselves as salespeople and encouraged them to buy "promotional" products at a price of 1 yuan per bag. Half a month later, they were charged with losses of 3.8 million yuan and 1.87 million yuan respectively.

After investigation by the public security department, it was found that this criminal group had developed in many places across the country and abroad, using "dummy POS machines" to steal credit card information and launder funds. They took advantage of the mobility of passengers on trains and pedestrians to sell low-priced products or provide car wash services, and then carried out fraudulent activities such as credit card fraud.

There are also cases where criminals use psychological manipulation to create "slow-charging phone cards" by claiming that internal employees can recharge phone cards at a rate of 80 yuan per 100 yuan. The promise is that the refund will be available within three to fifteen days. However, the real situation is that the criminal group uses platform technology to replace genuine phone card recharge orders with gambling recharge orders, evading third-party payment institution monitoring and laundering illegal funds by transferring them.

Industry insiders point out that slow-charging phone cards refer to a process where users select lower recharge amounts and then repeatedly recharge to reach their desired amount. In itself, it is not illegal, but it can be easily exploited by some criminal organizations.

One possible scenario is that criminals use slow-charging phone cards for fraud. The criminal group convinces users to provide their phone numbers and recharge amounts, then uses the slow-charging process to transfer the users' phone card funds to their own accounts. In some cases, black market organizations may also use slow-charging phone cards to launder money by repeatedly charging phone cards with illegal funds, hiding their illegal origins.

Additionally, criminals will also use high discounts to attract consumers to pay for telephone services, electricity bills, water bills, gas bills, and other public service fees. These fees have small amounts, are scattered, and have strong hiding power, making consumers unknowingly become money launderers.

In reality, whether it is low-priced purchases or segmented recharges, criminal organizations use part of the consumer's "greed for bargains" and take advantage of some people's lack of understanding of financial business operations. Similar schemes are more prevalent near the Spring Festival.

According to Beijing Lawyer Wang De-yi, to avoid having information on your bank card copied by a criminal POS machine, it is recommended that users use mobile payments as much as possible and avoid touching the opponent's POS machine to prevent the setting of devices that copy the chip information in your bank card.

In summary, all these schemes are variations of the same theme. Beijing Lawyer Li Ya said that before the Spring Festival is the peak period for fraudulent cases, and the public should raise awareness against fraud and avoid large transactions with strangers online; stay away from services or products that deviate from normal value returns and market regulations.

The police also remind consumers to choose official channels for recharge and payment, even if it means accepting a small discount but having some guarantee. Do not trust large-scale recharge ads, and be vigilant against low-price recharge traps. Most importantly, do not lend or sell your personal identity card or bank account; protect your privacy, refuse to tell others your online bank account username, password, dynamic password, etc., and avoid getting involved in the criminal network.