This is a major fraud case that has lasted for nearly three years and is comparable to a Ponzi scheme. More than 400 college graduates were deceived, with a total of more than 80 million yuan in property damage. Over a hundred people voluntarily or passively became victims of fraud. As of the time of the case, there were still many people waiting for that distant "job"... A failed "plea" led to a major fraud. In June of this year, the Criminal Investigation Third Brigade of Xigu Branch of Lanzhou Public Security Bureau received a report from a college graduate in its jurisdiction that they had been defrauded of 210000 yuan on the grounds of solving a job. The police learned that the suspect Jin claimed to know an "insider" named Yu who could help apply for the status of a formal employee of a state-owned enterprise and lure the victim into transferring money to him. The victim later discovered that they had only signed a labor dispatch contract and had not become a formal employee. After inquiring about the reasons with Jin and Yu, they both used various excuses to evade and refuse to repay the money. The police found that the suspects, such as Yu, do not have a fixed occupation and normal source of income, but have a huge amount of bank fund transactions, and there are a large number of transfer records in different accounts under their names at different times. Thus, a massive "snowball like" scam that had lasted for nearly three years gradually surfaced. From the end of 2021 to June 2024, Yu conspired with Qin, Su, and others to carry out recruitment and job fraud against college graduates from various cities and prefectures in Gansu Province, claiming to be able to handle formal employment for central enterprises, state-owned enterprises, and other party and government institutions. The gang also colluded with other gray and black criminal gangs that forged official seal documents and website information to form a criminal chain, with over a hundred people involved as intermediaries in fraud. The Xigu police in Lanzhou immediately established a special task force to conduct an investigation. After finding out the gang's crime process, membership, organizational structure, geographical distribution and capital operation, all 20 major suspect were arrested from July to September, and more than 200 criminal cases were jointly uncovered. One dens producing and selling fake seals of state organs were destroyed, one store selling fake and inferior equipment was investigated, and more than 200 physical evidences such as forged employment notices and internship contracts were seized. Thoroughly eradicated a criminal chain of recruitment fraud involving forged state-owned enterprises, government agencies, and government institutions. The police have verified through analysis and judgment of hundreds of thousands of company fund flows, personal transaction records, and electronic data of the criminal gang involved in the case, that there are more than 400 victims of college graduates from 8 cities and prefectures in Gansu Province, with a total amount of more than 80 million yuan involved. At present, more than 10 million yuan has been recovered and damaged. Li Xuecheng, the captain of the Criminal Investigation Third Brigade of Xigu Branch of Lanzhou Public Security Bureau, introduced that this is a large-scale, well-organized, and malicious case involving employment fraud involving college students, which has typical representative significance since the national public security organs launched a special action to crack down on illegal activities of impersonating government departments, state-owned enterprises, and central enterprises. At present, the case is still under further investigation. The main culprit of the crazy "group performance" under the name of "joining the staff" was Yu, who was originally a temporary employee of a state-owned enterprise in Lanzhou. Due to work reasons, he had some understanding of the recruitment process of state-owned enterprise employees. After resigning, he has been wandering around various bars and nightclubs in Lanzhou, often boasting and portraying himself as a "second-generation official" and "son of a high-ranking official". He has met a group of people who are not engaged in their work and idle. In 2021, Yu and his friends used the guise of having internal connections to lure people around them to apply for employment. They continue to develop downlines and spread false recruitment information everywhere to attract "heads". As the scam grows bigger, there are more and more victims. Yu and others took advantage of the situation and established a human resources service company called Lanzhou Fengxi, and rented several office spaces to impersonate "examination rooms," "training centers," "conference rooms," and so on. In order to make the scam more real, they have created a complete fraud process from posting information, conducting exams, interviews, and physical examinations, to pre job training. Except for the last step of not being able to go to work, they even prepared all the entry equipment such as work uniforms, badges, and uniforms for the victims, "said Liu Kai, a police officer from the Criminal Investigation Third Brigade of Xigu Branch of Lanzhou Public Security Bureau. After solving the case, the police found that there was only one person working normally in a certain "company", and the rest were all temporary "group performers" hired by Yu and others, just to deceive the victims who came to the "company" to apply for "employment". Group performances "can involve impersonating company employees to pretend to work in front of their workstations, impersonating job seekers to answer questions with one or two victims in the exam room, or impersonating a" big leader "with internal connections to make the victims feel at ease. These group performances are low-cost, flexible and free, and can be found anytime. Yu and others are responsible for using various language to appease victims, and acting as intermediaries in the development of gray and black industry gangs that forge documents and website information, as well as conducting various group performances and distributing commissions. Sometimes, Yu and others also arrange for some people to work as contract workers in state-owned enterprises, deceiving them into quickly becoming regular employees. They even lead newly joined victims to visit, which further confirms the false impression in the victims' minds that criminals are "omnipotent" and firmly believe that the other party can handle a job within the system for them. As time goes by, some initially deceived job seekers start asking when they can start working after completing all the procedures, while criminals try every means to delay. They fabricated various fake news and excuses, created a photo of the inspection team's inspection news on the website of a legitimate state-owned enterprise, forged it as a local state-owned enterprise accepting inspection, and then informed the victim that they needed to wait further; Or fabricate reasons such as superiors' 'accidents'. For some victims who have doubts, Yu and others may make threats, and after paying huge amounts of money, the victims can only place their hopes on the criminals. The cost of this scam is too low, but the return is too high Liu Kai said. The personnel involved in the case usually introduce a "job" with a cost ranging from tens of thousands to 200000 yuan, and after layers of intermediaries, some even reach up to 50-600000 yuan. After defrauding the victim of money, Yu and members of the criminal gang did not hide or transfer their assets, but squandered them recklessly. Some people rent high-end villas and invite internet celebrities, artists, and others to have fun together at a high cost. Some people also spend a lot of money in nightclubs. Behind their luxurious and decadent lives, there are graduating students who have exhausted their family savings, burdened with heavy loans, and are eager but full of expectations, as well as the families behind them who silently support them. Before the incident, Yu and others dared not go home and hid outside all day long. When the police came knocking on their door, they breathed a sigh of relief instead. If you don't come and arrest me again, I'll be beaten to death, "Yu said in front of the police. Preventing employment fraud in the form of proxy applications still faces difficulties. To prevent college graduates from being victims of job fraud, multiple departments have joined forces and issued multiple measures and warning information. In June 2023, the Ministry of Public Security, the Cyberspace Administration of China, and the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security issued ten typical trap prevention tips for job seeking and recruitment. They sorted and summarized ten typical traps in four categories in the field of job seeking and recruitment services, analyzed their main characteristics and modus operandi, and provided typical cases and prevention tips. In June 2024, the Ministry of Public Security launched a special operation to crack down on the illegal activities of impersonating government departments, state-owned enterprises, and central enterprises, and strengthened the full chain crackdown on the illegal activities of producing and selling fake seals and certificates. The police officers of the special task force believe that the case in Lanzhou combines impersonation of state-owned enterprises and central enterprises with job seeking fraud, and the main illegal means of accumulating wealth is to pay for favors. Revealed the difficulties in preventing employment fraud related to hiring. Firstly, the cost of forgery is low. The materials and techniques for producing fake official seals and documents are relatively easy to obtain. And there are also people online who illegally sell some simple seal making tools. According to the police, criminals often use computer software to typeset and forge documents. Some fake documents that imitate the format of state-owned enterprise documents can easily get away with it under non professional screening. Secondly, it is highly covert and confusing. Criminal gangs will imitate the official website style of state-owned enterprises to build fake recruitment websites. These website domains are similar to official websites, which can easily mislead visitors. For example, using a domain name that is only one or two letters away from the official website of a state-owned enterprise, or plagiarizing a large amount of content such as the introduction, corporate culture, and news of a state-owned enterprise on the website, makes it difficult for job seekers to distinguish between truth and falsehood. In addition, suspects may also evade supervision by renting short-term venues or frequently changing locations. When publishing false information, criminal gangs will choose some relatively weak regulated online platforms or small local recruitment websites. The police believe that these platforms do not strictly review information, making it easy for false information to be published. Some victims, after the incident, were worried about not getting their money back or damaging their personal reputation, so they chose to follow the suspect's inducement to give up reporting, which reduced the reporting rate and loss recovery rate. Industry insiders suggest that it is necessary to further strengthen information sharing and joint law enforcement supervision among multiple departments, promote the implementation of the responsibilities of recruitment platforms, punish platforms that do not strictly review and release fraudulent information, and establish a credit evaluation system for the platforms. Job seekers need to be vigilant and enhance their identification skills. During the job search process, it is important to carefully verify company information. You can check the registration information and equity structure of the enterprise through official channels. Be cautious about excessively favorable recruitment conditions. In addition, establish a correct employment concept, do not blindly pursue "staffing", and comprehensively consider the actual situation, job content, and personal career planning. At the same time, once suspicious recruitment behavior is discovered, it should be reported to relevant departments in a timely manner to avoid more people being deceived. (New Society)