The crime of swindling by pretense refers to the act of impersonating a government official in order to obtain illegal benefits, defraud others, and damage the authority of government agencies and their normal operations.
On the evening of January 5th, Miss Jin arrived as scheduled in the Pingfang area of Xiangyang District for a date with the so-called "charming scholar." After waiting for over ten minutes, a red Volkswagen sedan slowly pulled over to the side of the road. A young man who claimed to be the "charming scholar" stepped out of the car. After exchanging pleasantries, Miss Jin got into his car. During their conversation, Miss Jin learned that he surnamed Wang, lived in Beijing, was unmarried, worked for a government agency, and had a stable income.
Upon interrogation, Wang admitted without reservation to fabricating a false identity to deceive women's affections. According to Wang's confession, he usually works comfortably and enjoys chatting online. Since last October, after purchasing a fully-featured smartphone, he became obsessed with WeChat on his phone and began frequently logging onto WeChat to meet netizens.
Beijing Zhongzhou Law Firm lawyer Yu Dehua told reporters that the crime of swindling by pretense is a conduct offense that infringes upon the prestige of government agencies. As long as there is an act of impersonating a government official to defraud, it could constitute this crime.
Can manipulating feelings also be a crime?
The purpose of the crime of swindling by pretense is to gain illegal benefits, which is broader than the scope of fraud. The main objective of fraud crimes is to obtain property, but the crime of swindling by pretense includes not only material benefits such as money, but also various non-material benefits, such as obtaining certain political or honorary treatments, or even deceiving "love" or amusing members of the opposite sex. Therefore, Wang's act of impersonating a government official to deceive women's affections also constitutes a suspected crime.
In cases I've encountered before, emotional scammers often fabricated identities to both deceive sexually and financially, ultimately being sentenced for fraud. In this case, suspect Wang did not gain any material benefit; he solely deceived women's emotions. Many people are puzzled: can "playing" with emotions also constitute a crime?
After quickly expressing his love to Miss Jin, she happily accepted. The careful Miss Jin noticed that since they started dating, Wang always took calls behind her back and his whereabouts were uncertain. Consequently, Miss Jin began secretly tracking Wang and discovered that he had been married for several years.
Upon investigation, it was found that suspect Wang was a regular worker earning around 1000 yuan per month, 27 years old, living in Gaobeidian, Chaoyang District. He married several years ago and has a boy. After consolidating similar cases, the police discovered that at the end of last year, Wang committed a similar crime in Tongzhou. After mastering the criminal facts of the suspect, investigators arrested Wang on Valentine's Day, February 14th, at his workplace.
According to Wang's confession, from last November to now, through WeChat on his mobile phone, he repeatedly fabricated false identities to deceive girls' affections. Currently, the police have verified two such cases, and other cases are still under investigation.
Reported by our correspondent (Zhang Lei and communicator Zhen Hong): An unmarried girl met a man named Wang through WeChat on her mobile phone, claiming to be single. However, after interacting with him, she discovered that Wang had been married and already had a child. Yesterday, we learned from Chaoyang police that Wang, a married man who fabricated his identity specifically to deceive young girls through WeChat, was criminally detained by Chaoyang police on suspicion of impersonation and fraud.
In early November 2011, the victim Miss Jin became fascinated with WeChat on her mobile phone and quickly befriended a man with the online name "Charming Talent." Every day, Miss Jin would receive greetings from "Charming Talent," and although they had never met, his humor and attentiveness deeply attracted her. From then on, whether at work or resting, Miss Jin spent her free time chatting with "Charming Talent." Just after the New Year, Miss Jin received an invitation from "Charming Talent."
After discovering she had been deceived, Miss Jin began questioning Wang. However, Wang always avoided answering, and later turned off his mobile phone. Recently, Miss Jin angrily reported the incident to Chaoyang police.
Related theme articles: Wang has a 6-year-old son.