Is it a crime for a defrauded person to trick back the money they lost?
This weekend, a news story went viral—a woman used Photoshop to recover her defrauded money. On May 21, Ms. Zhou reported to the police that she had invested in digital currency online and was scammed out of 150,000 yuan. After reporting the incident, Ms. Zhou was still unwilling to accept the loss and tried to negotiate with the scammer. She then photoshopped a bank balance screenshot showing 910,000 yuan, claiming that if the investment indeed yielded returns, she would add another 910,000 yuan. To secure the 910,000 yuan investment, the scammer transferred over 159,000 yuan to Ms. Zhou in an attempt to lure her into investing more. Thus, Ms. Zhou exploited the scammer's greed and successfully recovered over 159,000 yuan.
Online comments were roughly divided into two groups: one group applauded her actions.
A group of rational thinkers:
Looking at the recent trend of "satisfying" culture, such as satisfying novels and dramas, this news about a victim successfully outsmarting a scammer indeed gave everyone a sense of satisfaction. But behind this satisfaction, one must consider—is the victim's behavior actually legal?
Here, a comparative analysis must be made with the 2013 incident of "A PhD outwits a scammer and earns 300 yuan":
Incident description:
In September 2013, a PhD student named Zhang from Chongqing University received a message from a friend in the US, saying that the friend's mother needed money urgently for surgery and asking Zhang to transfer $5,000. Zhang promptly saw through the scam, played along by pretending to have sent the money, and after some back-and-forth with the scammer, successfully tricked the scammer into giving him 300 yuan.
What is the crime of fraud?
The crime of fraud refers to an act where the perpetrator, with the intent of illegal possession, uses fabricated facts or conceals the truth to defraud public or private property of a relatively large amount. The basic structure of this crime is: the perpetrator commits a fraudulent act with the intent of unlawful possession → the victim develops a mistaken understanding → the victim disposes of property based on that mistaken understanding → the perpetrator obtains the property → the victim suffers property loss.
Zhang's actions have in fact met the basic elements of fraud, but the crime of fraud has a monetary threshold—only when an individual defrauds public or private property of 2,000 yuan or more does it constitute fraud. Zhang's "fraud" amount did not reach the legally prescribed threshold, so he cannot be held legally liable. A prank that later made Zhang break out in a cold sweat.
Unlike Zhang, although Ms. Zhou recovered over 159,000 yuan, an amount far exceeding the threshold for fraud, her subjective intent was to reclaim her own 150,000 yuan, not for illegal possession. Her actions do not constitute fraud but are a legitimate form of private relief. The additional 9,000 yuan obtained was incidental to her subjective purpose and only needs to be returned.
The author recently watched an Indian suspense film "Kaabil," which contains a line worth sharing: "An eye for an eye will make the whole world blind." Outsmarting scammers is satisfying, but punishing evil and promoting good must be done with proper methods. Punishing crime through legal means is the wise course. Do not lightly test the boundaries of illegality, or a single misstep may lead to eternal regret, harming yourself and your loved ones. To navigate legal red lines and legitimately protect your rights, professional legal consultation is necessary. Guangdong Zhiming Law Firm has multiple senior attorneys with over 30 years of successful experience handling major, difficult, and complex cases, providing quality legal services to all sectors of society.
