"Free treasure identification, high price recycling", have you ever seen such an advertisement? Recyclers offer prices that are several times higher than the market price and claim to recycle your antiques, calligraphy and paintings, ancient coins and other collections. They can also pay you first and come to your door later. Will you be moved after seeing these? Recently, a large-scale criminal gang of "free treasure appraisal and live broadcast lottery fraud" has surfaced. The amount involved exceeds 10 million yuan and there are thousands of victims. Most of these victims are elderly. With the application of new technologies such as AI, criminals are constantly renovating their fraud methods. What new tricks are there this time?
On mobile social platforms, some videos claim to recycle cultural toys, calligraphy and paintings, and ancient coins at high prices. They don’t care whether they are good or bad, and they can pay first and then come to the door. This made many people excited, and soon the comment area was filled with people coming to consult. There will also be a link for "one-on-one consultation" below these videos, and someone will answer the call as soon as you fill in the phone number. Ms. Deng, who is in her 60s, signed up just like that.
Ms. Deng happened to have old banknotes on hand. The other party only looked at a few photos and quoted an "estimated collection price" of 40,000 to 50,000 yuan for a 10-cent banknote. 30 banknotes would be more than one million yuan.
Victim Ms. Deng: I must be happy to recycle each 1 cent face value ticket for 40,000 to 50,000 yuan. He said that our boss has taken a fancy to you. I will send you a link tonight, and you can listen here at 7 o'clock.
At 7 o'clock in the evening, Ms. Deng entered the live broadcast room that was only accessible by invitation. The anchor calls himself the curator of the museum, and talks about the age, condition and market conditions of the collections in a clear and logical manner, and the studio is also filled with various collections.
Ms. Deng was anxious to cash in, but the other party said that there were too many people asking for advice. If she wanted to jump in the queue for appraisal, she had to pay a deposit of 399 yuan first. Thinking of the profit of more than one million yuan after selling the collection, the anxious Ms. Deng immediately transferred the "queue-jumping fee".
During the live broadcast, based on several photos provided by Ms. Deng, the online anchor promised: 50,000 yuan each, and all your 30 old banknotes will be recycled and given 1.5 million yuan, with a deposit of 100,000 yuan. But this 100,000 yuan is not given for free. If you want to get it, you must first pay a "threshold fee."
Ms. Deng also paid the 999 yuan threshold fee. But the person who sent the deposit still didn't come. The "customer service" would send a link to the live broadcast every day, asking her to check in at the live broadcast room. After watching it for several days, Ms. Deng found that this online anchor was different from other anchors. He never sold goods, but seemed to be "talking" to the elderly.
As we chatted, the names changed. The anchor no longer called him "uncle" or "auntie", but changed his name to "parents". Chen, the curator of the private museum who claimed to have inherited the museum, claimed to provide for Ms. Deng’s retirement.
Ms. Deng: If you believe me, just call me godson, and I will call you mom and dad. When you get old, I will give you a little pension, and I will give you 300,000 yuan.
A young man she had never met called "godmother" repeatedly and offered to give the old man a pension of 300,000 yuan, which made Ms. Deng feel warm. But she didn't expect that this "family love falling from the sky" would soon come with a price tag. The other party said that in order to ensure that the money would reach her safely, she needed to pay another 5,000 yuan deposit.
Ms. Deng: He said that he gave you 300,000 yuan, but he also wants to return the 5,000 yuan. Later I asked them when they would come, and they said they would come back when the weather gets cooler.
But during this "waiting period", the content in the live broadcast room changed again. The anchor began to promote "collections". If you spend money to buy collections, you can participate in smashing golden eggs. Some people smashed 2 million yuan in cash, while others smashed collections worth one million yuan.
Ms. Deng: After I paid 3 million yuan or 2 million yuan, I immediately transferred the money. It was really cash.
Looking at the transfer records displayed on the screen, Ms. Deng was moved. She could smash a golden egg for 18,000 yuan, and she would start by hitting at least one million yuan. Seeing everyone winning prizes one by one, she immediately paid and smashed out the Hetian jade ornaments that were said to be worth 3.48 million yuan.
A few days later, the prize arrived in the mail. Ms. Deng opened the package, and her heart skipped a beat. This so-called "Hetian Jade" could be seen as fake at a glance.
The online anchor prevaricates Ms. Deng in a few words. In fact, those old people who really spend a lot of money to participate in smashing golden eggs will never win cash and can only hit the so-called "collections worth one million yuan."
Why can’t the old man in the online live broadcast room ever win cash? The secret is hidden in this golden egg. There is a small hole at the bottom of the golden egg. The gang personnel will specially arrange for people to insert the note with the winning information written in advance at the moment when the camera cannot see it.
It turns out that gang members will sort the target elderly people with the "child care" they arrange. When it is the turn of the target elderly person, the assistant in the live broadcast room will bring the golden egg numbered by the elderly person to the camera. At this time, the anchor will always say, come on, put it here, and then turn the camera to the table. In fact, just as the golden egg left the camera, a note with the so-called "winning information" was stuffed into the bottom of the golden egg. In other words, the prize you will win next has already been preset.
Kong Dexuan, a police officer from the Beigang Police Station of the Hongshan District Bureau of Wuhan Public Security Bureau in Hubei Province: When real customers transfer money and need to smash the golden eggs, they will feint the camera, move the golden eggs out of the camera, and stuff prepared notes under the golden eggs to ensure that the things the real customers smash are often shoddy crafts, and the purchase cost may be less than 100 yuan.
An old man asked if the hit collection could be exchanged for cash. The anchor refused on the spot: Whatever was hit will be what it is, and it will not be exchanged if it is not exchanged. And those "real" transfer scenes are also fake. The anchor just pretends to click, but actually slides a prepared screenshot to deceive the victim.
In more than two months, she didn't get a cent of the 100,000 yuan deposit, but instead paid more than 20,000 yuan. Ms. Deng slowly realized that she had been cheated, and finally called the police. The Hongshan District Branch of the Wuhan Municipal Public Security Bureau received similar police reports one after another, and most of the people who called the police were elderly. The police cracked down on the entire chain from video diversion, private domain live broadcast, speech training to collection and delivery, and arrested 81 suspects.
In fact, these so-called "door-to-door recycling" do not exist at all.
Kong Dexuan: Basically, they are 70-year-olds, and even the largest group is nearly 90 years old. People who are interested but have little knowledge of the market are more likely to believe their words in their live broadcast rooms, place orders and pay with passion. Their customer portraits are very clear.
In recent years, there have been frequent cases of elderly fraud in collection recycling, pension financial management, health care projects, etc., and there has been a new trend of integrating online and offline, especially the use of new forms and scenarios such as AI technology, deep forgery, and private domain live broadcasts, making the modus operandi more covert and more difficult to supervise.
Zhu Wei, associate professor at China University of Political Science and Law: First, the coverage has become wider by using AI and public domain platforms to divert traffic; second, the cost of producing AI is very low, and the investment cost is very low; third, it is very covert, diverting public domain traffic to the private domain, making it more concealed; fourth, it does not directly defraud the money, but also gives the elderly a so-called equivalent, and finally adds a lot of difficulty to the public security organs in the process of cracking down and determining the amount.
Why do so many victims gradually lower their guard and get tricked one after another? The core reason is that the fraud gang has designed a complete and sophisticated fraud script specifically for the elderly collectors.
The first step of treasure appraisal scam: AI video to attract traffic
From the copywriting design to the target audience, these videos are all aimed at the elderly users of the short video platform. Criminal gangs cast a wide net by mass-producing low-quality AI videos, and then further target target groups through information registration.
Zhu Wei: First, he is diverting traffic from the public domain, just like fishing, spreading bait in the public domain live broadcast, but the real criminal behavior or fraud does not occur in the public domain.
Hu Shiyi, a police officer from the Yujiashan Police Station of the Hongshan District Bureau of Wuhan Public Security Bureau in Hubei Province: The traffic-draining gang will continue to release videos. On average, each video can attract about 20 followers. Under the premise that they release a large number of videos, it only takes 2 days to attract 1,000 followers.
The second step of the treasure appraisal scam: Introducing a private live broadcast room
Zhu Wei: Divert traffic from the public domain to the private domain, especially through point-to-point methods such as instant messaging tools for one-to-one guidance and one-to-one fraud. It is mixed with false advertising, fraud, and selling so-called goods.
The third step of the treasure appraisal scam: Create a clever name and defraud the fees
From queue jumping fees to threshold fees, from pensions to breaking golden eggs, the anchors continue to harvest the wallets of victims through one routine after another.
Zhu Wei: As a public live broadcast platform, all live broadcast content is within the scope of the platform’s supervision. If there is a problem, the live broadcast will be interrupted immediately. But if you move to a private live broadcast room, it will be different. According to the relevant regulations of the State Administration for Market Regulation on the application of advertising laws recently, private live broadcasts are in principle not subject to advertising laws. Many gray and black products like to use private live broadcasting to achieve the effect of customer acquisition or sales, which is somewhat similar to the previous sales meetings.
The fraud gang targeted thousands of elderly collectors, and the falsely advertised AI videos played an important role in directional traffic drainage. It is worth noting that most of these illegal AI diversion videos published in batches do not have AI-generated content identification.
From AI video production, buying fans to attract traffic; to private live broadcast performances, hiring "shills" to enhance the atmosphere; to delivering goods to comfort, and using "emotional specialists" for one-on-one maintenance, this chain has formed a complete fraud industry chain.
Wang Hui, Deputy Director of Hongshan District Bureau of Wuhan Public Security Bureau in Hubei Province: From online traffic and live broadcast techniques to arranging "child care" and controlling lottery draws, all links have a clear division of labor and mutual cooperation. At the same time, criminal acts are often disguised as normal commodity transactions, and the victims are scattered across the country, making them more concealed and making investigation and evidence collection more difficult. In the past, scammers used a bag of eggs to invite the elderly to the venue; now, scammers can use a mobile phone to deliver the scam to the elderly's home. The fraud scene has changed, and our approach to combating and preventing it must change with it.
On the regulatory side, loopholes cannot be ignored either. Although the "Measures for the Supervision and Administration of Live Streaming E-commerce" implemented in February this year clearly states that operators of live streaming e-commerce platforms should establish and improve a risk identification system and strengthen dynamic monitoring of live streaming e-commerce activities. But in fact, the supervision of private live broadcasts is still a weak link. In addition, there are also omissions in the platform's supervision of the release of video content.
Zhu Wei: This case also serves as a reminder to the platforms and the legislative body that the elderly and the young, especially the elderly, are now also vulnerable groups on the Internet and should be given special protection. In the Law on the Protection of the Rights and Interests of the Elderly, there are no special online protection provisions for the elderly so far. In the process of adapting to aging, the obligation to remind the elderly is higher.
Experts remind that the elderly live alone and their emotional needs are accurately filled by scammers. Once the emotional value is full, the vigilance will be reduced to a minimum. This also serves as a reminder to children: often going home to accompany their parents and chatting more about anti-fraud knowledge will be more conducive to building a strong defensive moat.
From a bag of eggs to a mobile phone, from promotional venues to private live broadcast rooms, the deception is escalating and the scripts are becoming more and more sophisticated. But the underlying logic of the scam is the same. On the one hand, it takes advantage of the characteristics of the elderly who are easy to be fooled and have a weak ability to detect lies; on the other hand, it captures the elderly's lack of companionship and desire for emotional care. Protecting the elderly requires more than just shutting down the Internet. It also requires the strengthening of platform supervision, the improvement of the legal system, and more children's companionship with their parents.
