Our reporter learned yesterday that the Haidian Procuratorate had approved the arrest of Pan for suspected fraud. He had carefully arranged a scam to help people "get on the Spring Festival Gala", deceiving parents of students from many places such as Hubei, Liaoning, and Henan, gaining over 130,000 yuan illegally.
The man planned a scam related to the Spring Festival Gala. Recently, many people have fallen victim to fraudulent text messages about programs getting on the Spring Festival Gala. Even the official homepage of the event has prominently displayed an announcement warning against scams. However, the scam regarding the Spring Festival Gala is not limited to just text message fraud.
Pan, 37 years old, graduated from college in Guangdong and came to Beijing on January 11, 2012, without stable employment. In order to deceive people, Pan used the fake name "Wang Pingjun" and claimed to be from a subordinate unit of the Ministry of Culture. He also claimed to be responsible for the "Third National Youth Spring Festival Gala".
Pan promised that the recorded programs of this event would be broadcast on CCTV's Children's Channel and hosted by famous hosts like Dong Hao and Sister Moon. Pan searched online for contact details of dance schools across the country, calling or sending invitation letters to their leaders or teachers, asking them to organize their students to participate. Each child participating in the performance was required to pay 1700 RMB. For every additional program performed, an extra 400 RMB was required.
On January 18, 2012, the police received reports from multiple student parents including Yi, who were defrauded under the pretense of helping their children participate in the CCTV Children's Channel Spring Festival Gala.
Yi claimed that her daughter was a student at a Latin dance school in Guizhou. In mid-December 2011, the school notified Yi about an activity called "The Third National Youth Spring Festival Gala and Art Teacher Award Ceremony". Parents could bring their children to participate. Afterward, Yi checked the promotional webpage of the event online and learned about the organizing units, registration time, performance dates and locations, etc. Since it was shown online that the event would be broadcast on well-known TV stations like CCTV Children's Channel, CCTV-3, and China Educational Television, with supporting units like the Central Conservatory of Music and committee members including famous personalities like Xu Peidong, Jin Tielin, Yang Liping, Li Shuangjiang, Zhao Zhongxiang, and hosts like Dong Hao and Sister Moon, Yi paid 3100 RMB for her daughter's registration fee at the end of December 2011.
On January 15, 2012, Yi brought her child to Haidian District. The next day, the staff of the organizer led them to Tiananmen Square. On the third day, they were taken to perform at the auditorium of the Shichahai Sports School in Beijing. Due to the chaotic organization on-site, Yi felt deceived. After the performance, Yi and three other parents confronted Pan, who was impersonating "Teacher Wang". After being exposed, Pan claimed he could refund the registration fee and even provided round-trip ticket money. Before the parents reported to the police, Pan had already refunded 20,000 RMB to four families.
After receiving the report, the police arrested the suspect Pan. According to current evidence, during January 2012, Pan defrauded multiple victims using the above means, gaining over 130,000 yuan illegally. During questioning, Pan confessed that a total of 313 people came to Beijing to participate in the performance.
Currently, the case is still under further review.