Blockchain, virtual currency, mining machines...

Each and every glamorous “concept”

Attracts investors to invest years of hard-earned money

But watched it come to naught

In May 2021, the People’s Procuratorate of Qingpu District, Shanghai, charged the defendant Zhou Xing and others with suspicion of fund-raising fraud and illegal absorption of public deposits. 8 people were formally tried in court.

Travel service companies set up "blockchain" investment scams

In 2005, Zhou Xing founded a Dujuan Airlines service company in Shanghai that engaged in air tickets, high-speed rail tickets, and hotel reservations. To expand the business industry chain, he found his sister Zhou Lan to serve as the company's deputy general manager.

In 2014, when the Internet industry was booming, Zhou Xing found someone to develop a "one-click boarding" APP. Customers could book tickets on the software, which was very convenient. At the beginning of 2018, he saw the popularity of the "blockchain" concept, so he approached software developer Liu Liguo to develop the "Dujuan Travel Chain" APP, organized a large-scale presentation meeting, and recruited "investors" to participate. He described the "Dujuan Travel Chain" It is "a software that can connect with all airline services and resources of other strategic partners, and is comparable to Alipay and WeChat."

Due to a lack of professional knowledge, “investors” downloaded and recharged after hearing Zhou Xing boast that the daily profit from storing value in the software was 5‰, which was much higher than bank deposits. From June to December 2018, Zhou Xing and others illegally absorbed 150 million yuan in public deposits through the "Dujuan Travel Chain".

The capital chain is broken and a new pedometer can actually "mine"

The "Dujuan Travel Chain" is essentially a "Ponzi scheme" that demolishes the east wall to make up for the west. Moreover, the company's expenses were quite large, and Zhou Xing also misappropriated part of the funds. By the beginning of 2019, the company's capital chain was almost broken.

At this time, Zhou Xing thought of Fei Tao, a subject of supervised release on suspicion of illegally collecting deposits from the public. Fei Tao immediately proposed to ride on the popularity of "virtual currency" to attract money, and the two hit it off. Zhou Xing handed over a sub-function "pedometer" in the "Dujuan Travel Chain" to Liu Liguo to develop an independent software called "Mining Machine" and promoted to customers that Dujuan Group was about to launch a new virtual currency " Azalea” and listed on the internationally recognized VVBTC exchange. Investors only need to spend 50,000 yuan to buy a pedometer called a "mining machine", and get "Azaleas" by recharging and accumulating steps, which can be exchanged for "Azalea Coins".

The so-called "mining machine" is actually just a pedometer that costs dozens of dollars. Fei Tao then established the "Dujuan Business School" and went to Beijing, Jiangsu, Hubei, Yunnan and other places to give lectures once a month, attracting more than a thousand "investors" each time. The so-called "mining machines" also increased to 20 Ten thousand yuan per unit.

The market value of "Dujuan Coin" was also manipulated in secret by Zhou Xing and others. In order to attract more investors, Zhou Xing hyped the price of "Dujuan Coin" from the issue price of 1 yuan per share to nearly 20 yuan per share. A large number of middle-aged and elderly "investors" are in high spirits, selling cars, houses, using credit cards, borrowing money, and constantly making additional investments. When the last wave of "leeks" entered the market, Zhou Xing and others began to close the net.

In early August 2019, Zhou Xing controlled the "Dujuan Coin" to plunge sharply, and at the same time restricted "investors" from trading and reselling. As of August 30, 2019, "Dujuan Coin" fell to one cent per RMB share.

Investors lost all their money, and the procuratorate guided the conviction and sentencing

Since 2019, Zhou Xing and others have squandered a large amount of money and paid for Du Wenhui to serve as the company's legal representative. After the incident, the "Dujuan Building" was even more deserted, and desperate investors wrote letters and complaints to the prosecutor's office.

Prosecutor Wang Sheng received more than 1,000 petition letters within a few months. He screened out 357 petitioners and responded by phone one by one. He also interviewed 21 batches of mass representatives, totaling hundreds of people. The remaining people.

After comprehensive investigation and verification, prosecutors believe that Zhou Xing and others violated relevant national financial management regulations, illegally absorbed deposits from unspecified objects in society, disrupted financial order, and at the same time, their so-called "overseas listing" "daily appreciation" "They are all fabrications, deliberately defrauding the victim of money, and the purpose of illegal possession is obvious. The procuratorate approved the arrest of Zhou Xing and others on suspicion of illegally absorbing public deposits and fund-raising fraud.

Because Zhou Xing and others cleared the data of all devices before escaping, the public security organs were unable to obtain evidence for a time. The procuratorial organ and the public security organ held a discussion meeting, and together with the auditors, they studied and judged the audit scope. They believed that the amount involved in this case should be audited from the public accounts of several companies actually controlled by Zhou Xing and others, and guided and coordinated the auditors to retrieve the accounts. Lianshui re-audited and finally increased the amount involved in the case to more than 310 million yuan, successfully fixing the evidence.

Differentiated treatment to defeat them one by one and help the victims recover the stolen goods and recover losses

From May to August 2020, 8 principal criminals were arrested successively, but they still took chances and desperately denied it. Prosecutor Wang Sheng used individual strategies and differentiated handling. He analyzed and judged the eight persons involved one by one, starting with the company's legal representative Du Wenhui, and focused on explaining the law and reasoning to him, prompting him to take the initiative to plead guilty and accept punishment. Subsequently, several principal criminals confessed their crimes one after another. Prosecutor Wang Sheng comprehensively grasped various sentencing circumstances and accurately made sentencing recommendations.

After explaining the law and reasoning, Du Wenhui took the initiative to return the stolen money. Prosecutor Wang Sheng learned through interrogation that Fei Tao had used stolen money to purchase a Mercedes-Benz Maybach, and asked the public security organs to seize the vehicle in a timely manner based on this clue to maximize the recovery of the victim's losses. In addition to the eight main culprits, prosecutors have also pursued prosecution of 24 staff members of the Dujuan Group's marketing department across the country. Currently, 5 prosecution letters have been issued and 1 person has been brought to justice.

During the trial of this case, the prosecutor invited seven victims’ representatives to appear in court, setting the precedent for victims to appear in court in fund-raising cases by the Qingpu District Procuratorate. At the trial site, the prosecutor presented a large number of videos, photos and other evidence of Zhou Xing and others' lectures. The trial lasted until late at night for two consecutive days, fully revealing the nature of the defendant's fund-raising fraud and illegal absorption of public deposits.

Prosecutor Wang Sheng received a banner from the victim. He said: "As a prosecutor, it is my duty and mission to uphold fairness and justice and crack down on crime severely. 'Justice for the people' is not It’s an empty talk. From now on, I will do my best to recover the victims’ stolen goods and damages, popularize the law for the public, and do practical things for the people!”

In July 2021, the case was successfully handled and effectively prevented! Resolved financial risks and was selected as "Excellent Cases (Instances) of Shanghai Procuratorate's Implementation of 'Procuratorial Recommendation No. 3'".

(The names of the persons involved in the case are pseudonyms in the article)

Prosecutor’s statement

Behind every fund-raising fraud case, there are people who have lost everything and lost all their money. A true tragedy. The public, especially middle-aged and elderly people, must not be blinded by interests and must not believe that pie will fall in the world.