"Borrow me 160,000 yuan to buy raw materials for the H1N1 vaccine, I can make 60,000 yuan and give you 50,000 yuan as a reward." Scammers who are everywhere have once again targeted the H1N1 vaccine for fraud. Ms. Zhang from Xinyi fell victim to a major scam on December 19th last year. The so-called "raw materials" she borrowed 160,000 yuan from her "friend" to buy turned out to be two bags of salt. Recently, the Xuanwu police in Nanjing solved this case of fraud involving fake H1N1 vaccine raw materials, and all four suspects involved were arrested.
The police found that the criminals had been casually befriending Ms. Zhang for half a month before committing the crime, gaining her trust before playing different roles to make her believe it was real, ultimately deceiving her.
A wealthy woman met "Mr. Tong" at a dance hall.
At midnight 12 o'clock on December 19th last year, the on-duty police officer at Houzaimen Police Station suddenly received a call reporting that a woman was defrauded of 160,000 yuan outside the Shanshui Grand Hotel. The on-duty police quickly arrived at the scene. Seeing the police, a fashionably dressed middle-aged woman standing in front of a Mercedes-Benz car waved frantically. The woman said she was from Xinyi, Xu Zhou, surnamed Zhang, 36 years old, and came to Nanjing for business. The person who defrauded her money was a man called Mr. Tong.
Ms. Zhang's family was well-off, and every day she would go to a nearby dance hall to dance for fitness. At around 6:00 am on December 2nd last year, during a break between dances, Ms. Zhang met a man. At that time, the man walked over and invited Ms. Zhang to dance. He seemed quite gentlemanly, making Ms. Zhang feel he was of high quality. "My surname is Tong, I'm the manager of a state-owned enterprise in Beijing, just call me Brother Tong," the man introduced himself while dancing. Ms. Zhang learned that he was in Xinyi on a business trip. The next morning, Ms. Zhang and Brother Tong met again, and they exchanged phone numbers. However, Brother Tong did not show up from the third day onwards.
Someone chased Brother Tong to buy vaccine raw materials.
Half a month later, while handling affairs in Nanjing, Ms. Zhang unexpectedly received a call from Brother Tong. Brother Tong said he was going to Xinyi on another business trip and wanted to invite her for dinner that night. And hearing that Ms. Zhang was in Nanjing, Brother Tong immediately expressed that he would also come to Nanjing the next day, hoping to have lunch with Ms. Zhang. The next morning, Brother Tong indeed appeared in Nanjing. Ms. Zhang said that at noon that day, she met Brother Tong in a hotel. Because she had some family matters, she wanted to go home early. Hearing that Ms. Zhang was returning to Xinyi, Brother Tong also indicated that he would return to Xinyi with her by car, and Ms. Zhang agreed.
Ms. Zhang parked her Mercedes-Benz outside the hotel, only to see Brother Tong anxiously shouting into his mobile phone. After hanging up, Brother Tong explained that a Sichuanese man insisted on asking him to help buy some raw materials for the H1N1 vaccine. "I helped him last time, and he didn't even thank me. I really don't want to help him, although this thing is very profitable," Brother Tong said carelessly. Just as he was speaking, a man suddenly appeared outside the car, tapping on Ms. Zhang's car window. "Sigh, it's that Sichuan guy, the drug manager, Mr. Chen. He has such thick skin. I already said I wouldn't help him, but he still followed me here," Brother Tong muttered as he got out of the car.
They were actually a gang.
Ms. Zhang glanced at the two men outside the car window and saw Manager Chen open a password-protected briefcase, which was filled with stacks of cash, at least hundreds of thousands of yuan. "Brother Tong, Brother Tong, I made a mistake last time. Isn't apologizing enough? This time, I will definitely thank you properly," Manager Chen kept saying. Brother Tong helplessly said, "Then I'll help you one more time. But given my status, it's inappropriate for me to be seen publicly. If anyone asks, tell them this deal is with my sister," Brother Tong pointed at Ms. Zhang sitting in the driver's seat and winked at her twice. Ms. Zhang also understood and agreed.
Brother Tong said it wasn't safe for Manager Chen to carry so much cash, and asked him to wait in the hotel for news while he and Ms. Zhang went to get the goods. Ms. Zhang followed Brother Tong and was taken to a residential area opposite the hotel. At the entrance of a building's staircase, a young man came down. Brother Tong hurriedly greeted him warmly, saying, "San'er, is your brother at home?" Ms. Zhang later learned from Brother Tong's introduction that San'er's brother was a senior official in Nanjing who had access to raw materials for making the H1N1 vaccine. However, San'er said his brother was attending a meeting in Guangzhou and wouldn't be back for several days. Currently, the goods were in his sister's possession, and there were only some samples at home. Brother Tong immediately took out 20,000 yuan, claiming it was a deposit, and asked to see some samples first. San'er asked the two to wait downstairs because his father was celebrating his 70th birthday that day, and there were too many guests at home to accommodate them.
The wealthy woman driving the Mercedes-Benz was tricked.
Soon, San'er came down from upstairs and handed Brother Tong a small bag of green granules. Brother Tong took Ms. Zhang back to the room where Manager Chen was staying. The two took out test tubes and fiddled with the sample for a while. Manager Chen was very satisfied and said, "Good, the purity is very high. I've decided to take it." Brother Tong quickly called San'er and said he wanted one kilogram. The person on the other end of the phone, San'er, said that there would be a birthday banquet for his father at the Shanshui Grand Hotel on Longpanzhong Road that evening, and his sister would bring one kilogram of goods to the hotel. Brother Tong was asked to come to the hotel to pick it up and drink a few cups of birthday wine. At 5:30 pm, Brother Tong still instructed Manager Chen to wait in the room while he and Ms. Zhang went to the Shanshui Grand Hotel. Downstairs, San'er was already waiting. San'er said his sister had already brought the goods, which were upstairs, but since she had become very eccentric after her divorce and didn't trust anyone, they would need to see the cash if they wanted to do this deal.
Manager Chen's money and person were both in the hotel, and Ms. Zhang was eager to return home. Brother Tong very considerately suggested to Ms. Zhang, "Why don't we pool our resources, give him the money first, then go to Manager Chen and collect it, and then we'll leave." Ms. Zhang said that out of trust for Brother Tong, she didn't think much about it and agreed. However, she only had less than 20,000 yuan in cash on her. Brother Tong also didn't have much money, and this one kilogram of goods still required 160,000 yuan besides the 20,000 yuan already paid. Brother Tong immediately made several calls, and from his conversation, Ms. Zhang learned that one was his company's financial director; the other was his boss friend, unfortunately, neither were in their offices, and they couldn't provide Brother Tong with much cash assistance.
Brother Tong turned to Ms. Zhang and said that this deal could earn 60,000 yuan, and asked Ms. Zhang to temporarily borrow money from her friends in Nanjing. In return, he would give her 50,000 yuan as a reward. Ms. Zhang wasn't short of money, and she wasn't interested in these 50,000 yuan either. She just wanted to go home quickly, and she had personally seen that large bundle of money belonging to Manager Chen. She thought she was just helping a friend out. Thus, she called a friend in Nanjing, withdrew 160,000 yuan from two banks, and handed it over to Brother Tong. Brother Tong asked Ms. Zhang to help deliver the goods to Manager Chen at the hotel and collect the payment, while he would go upstairs to drink a few cups of birthday wine, waiting for Ms. Zhang to come back and pick him up. Before going upstairs, Brother Tong mentioned that he currently didn't have much cash, and needed to contribute a gift for the birthday celebration, so he took another 8,000 yuan from Ms. Zhang.
Ms. Zhang soon returned to the hotel where Manager Chen was staying. When she knocked on the door, she was stunned—there was no sign of Manager Chen inside. She learned from the front desk that shortly after she and Brother Tong left the hotel earlier in the afternoon, Manager Chen had checked out and left. It was only then that Ms. Zhang truly realized she had been deceived.
Suspects captured in Lianyungang.
Based on the accents and appearances described by the victim, the police quickly deduced that the several criminals should have come from different places, including Sichuan and northern regions. Given that "Brother Tong" frequently appeared in Xinyi, Xu Zhou, this group might continue to scam people in northern Jiangsu after succeeding. Considering these factors, the Xuanwu police issued an investigation notice to several county-level public security bureaus in northern Jiangsu. Soon, the investigation notice with portraits of several suspects yielded results. On January 17th this year, the Lianyungang police replied to the Xuanwu police, stating there was evidence showing that these suspects were currently active in the urban area of Lianyungang.
Subsequently, seven detectives from the special task force quickly headed to Lianyungang. Each detective daily visited some dance halls in the city to look for clues. On the third morning, detectives Yu Hua and Wang Qihua spotted the suspects at the entrance of a dance hall on Cangwu Road. Yu Hua and Wang Qihua did not alarm the suspects but immediately notified their other colleagues. Soon, detectives Zhou Lin and Zeng Zhen arrived and cornered the four suspects at the hotel exit. Currently, the police have recovered part of the stolen money, and all suspects have been criminally detained. Deputy Brigade Commander Yu Zhijie of the Xuanwu Branch Criminal Investigation Team introduced that cases of fraud involving H1N1 vaccines are not yet common domestically, but the impact is severe. In their analysis of similar cases nationwide, they found that such cases have only occurred in a few places like Shanxi and Northeast China, and none have been solved yet. (All parties involved in the article are pseudonyms.) Yang Weibin Luo Shuangjiang