Customized tourism not only allows for customized routes, but also enables investment and earning money? Criminals used this tactic to attract more than 2000 elderly people to "throw money", involving a total amount of over 150 million yuan. On August 16, 2024, the defendant Gao was prosecuted by the Binhu District People's Procuratorate in Wuxi City, Jiangsu Province on suspicion of illegally absorbing public deposits. On December 19 of the same year, the court sentenced Gao to 3 years in prison and a fine of 150000 yuan for the crime of illegally absorbing public deposits in the first instance. The verdict has now come into effect. It is understood that other relevant personnel involved in the case will also be transferred for prosecution one after another. In March 2023, Mr. Liu, a 70 year old resident of Binhu District, Wuxi, encountered a "beautiful thing" about free tourism. Along the way, in addition to enjoying the mountains and waters, the organizer also held a small promotion event on the bus, claiming that the company is headquartered in Zhejiang and has strong capabilities. It has recently launched a customized tourism product, and those interested can sign a contract to purchase it on the spot. According to the staff, this series of packages is priced between 580 yuan and 10000 yuan, and includes 5 to 12 tourist routes for sale, ranging from short distance trips to high-end overseas tours. Customers can choose to travel or not, and use this amount as investment and financial management for the company. According to the price of the purchased route, you can also receive an additional 1% to 2% rebate. According to the company's promotion, for a 5-day domestic tourism route, one route costs 2150 yuan, and the packaged selling price for 5 routes is 10000 yuan. If the customer does not travel, 2150 points will be refunded, and the points will be exchanged 1:1 for cash as financial investment. The investment will be returned to the customer in 5 installments, with each installment returning 2150 yuan. Ultimately, the customer can receive 10750 yuan and a 5-month return of 7.5%. As the investment amount increases, the annualized rate of return can even reach up to 20%. Mr. Liu heard that the company has strong strength and high interest rates, and the elderly people who travel together have also said that they have purchased packages and the profits have been received on time. Mr. Liu invested 100000 yuan on the spot to purchase a 10 month installment tour package. In less than half a year, Mr. Liu invested another 170000 yuan and received a total of about 70000 yuan in subsidies from the company. But in October 2023, the promised regular rebate suddenly stopped. On November 10, 2023, Mr. Liu, who had not received the rebate, rushed to the company to ask for an explanation. However, the person in charge, Mr. Gao, who had been promising all along, was just trying to evade and delay, and it was not Mr. Liu who was asking for an explanation in the company. The "investors" who were speaking with Mr. Liu at the company reported to the police, who immediately rushed to the scene and controlled Gao and others before filing an investigation. The use of rebates to attract investment is actually an illegal fundraising activity that Gao's company has been engaged in for a long time, which appears to be "customized tourism", but is actually an investment rebate. The company is recruiting salespeople to distribute flyers and business cards in places with high personnel flow, using free travel as a gimmick to attract people to participate in the company's organized tourism activities. During the event, lecturers, salespersons, and others attracted investment through holding promotional meetings and other means. At the same time, it was announced that customers could become company members and enjoy free travel as long as they participated in the investment. With a one-time payment, they could enjoy multiple trips within a certain period of time. In August 2022, Mr. Song (handled separately) and others transformed the original company and established 5 branch centers in Liangxi District, Binhu District, etc. They will send supervisors to the 5 branch centers every month to provide training for all employees. Gao was promoted to the position of Director of the Third Branch Center due to his ability to handle affairs effectively, responsible for team management, operation of tourism routes, and performance management of the branch center. Mr. Gao is also well aware that "customized tourism" may seem fancy on the surface, but in essence, it is about using maturity rebates to attract customers to invest. New customers need to constantly invest money in order for existing customers to receive rebates. During company training, they were instructed to describe rebates as subsidies to prevent customers from becoming wary of the nature of the company. Tempted by high profits and in order to obtain higher commissions, Gao himself borrowed money to buy several such travel packages, but ultimately suffered the consequences himself. On August 13, 2023, the Binhu District Prosecutor's Office made a decision to approve the arrest of Gao by brainwashing elderly people. On February 18, 2024, the public security organs transferred the case for examination and prosecution. According to statistics, the third sub center under the responsibility of Mr. Gao has involved more than 2000 investors and a total investment amount of over 150 million yuan since September 2022. The prosecutor in charge of the case, Qiu Huafeng, told a reporter from the Rule of Law Daily that the company involved in the case did not have the qualification to absorb public deposits without approval from the financial regulatory department. It attracted customers to participate in tourism by publicly distributing flyers and business cards, and promoted investment projects with investment nature along the way. Some investors were spread word of mouth among friends and attracted each other to participate in investment, which conforms to the characteristics of openness. They also lured people to invest with high rebates, which has obvious temptation. The investment targets they developed are also unspecified groups in society, which conforms to the characteristics of the crime of illegal absorption of public deposits. The company involved in the case seized the fact that the 'silver haired generation' generally have a strong willingness to travel, but their physical energy is limited and they are meticulous in their budgeting. They used short distance travel to attract elderly people to participate and took the opportunity to 'brainwash' them to promote. A large number of elderly people were lured and cheated out of their pension money Qiu Huafeng said. Given that this case is a new case of illegal fundraising under the guise of cultural tourism, the Binhu District Prosecutor's Office analyzed the characteristics of the new illegal fundraising case disguised as a tourism company from the aspects of company type, operation mode, publicity target, and crime mode, based on the writing of the case. Suggestions were put forward to strengthen the linkage and cooperation between judiciary and administration, unify law enforcement and judicial standards, and actively extend social governance. The reporter learned that on this basis, the hospital will work with relevant departments such as culture and tourism, finance, and public security to carry out legal publicity and education for practitioners in key tourism institutions in the jurisdiction, and strengthen standardized employment guidelines. (New Society)