Starch pills costing ten yuan transform into resurrection pills

Compiled from: Legal Daily
 
The Zhushan District People's Court of Jingdezhen City, Jiangxi Province, has recently delivered a verdict on the "July 1" health product fraud case investigated by the Jingdezhen public security authorities. The court convicted Qiang, the general distributor, of the crimes of selling substandard products, false advertising, and obstructing credit card management, and sentenced him to a combined fixed-term imprisonment of 15 years. Chen, Liu, and four other second-tier distributors were convicted of fraud and sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of 5 years and 3 years respectively. Chu was convicted of reselling citizens' personal information and sentenced to a fixed-term imprisonment of 3 years.

 
 

Case review
On June 21, 2022, while conducting routine community visits in their jurisdiction, police officers from the Jingdezhen Nanhe Public Security Sub-bureau received a report from the daughter of a fraud victim: her father had repeatedly purchased “863 Resurrection Pill” health products sold by a certain technology company through express delivery and had been defrauded of over 40,000 yuan.
 
Testing by the Jingdezhen municipal market supervision authorities found that the main ingredient of "863 Resurrection Pill" was starch. The Nanhe Branch of the Jingdezhen Public Security Bureau immediately opened an investigation and traveled to Nanjing to conduct on-site inquiries and evidence collection, fully establishing the facts of the fraud crime: the distributor of "863 Resurrection Pill" had illegally obtained information on elderly people who had participated in TV shopping, and arranged sales representatives to pose as TV shopping health consultants to recommend the Resurrection Pill health product, claiming it could boost the human immune system, in order to defraud elderly people of their money and illegally profit.
 
Under the guidance and coordination of the Criminal Investigation Corps of the Jiangxi Provincial Public Security Department, the public security organs of Jingdezhen City swiftly dismantled the branch office of the company in Nanjing, arrested 6 criminal suspects, and seized “health products” worth more than 300,000 yuan, thoroughly uncovering a fraud network involving 206 secondary distributors across 25 provinces nationwide.
 
According to the police, the fraud criminal gang consisted of three parts: the general distributor (the principal), the manufacturer, and the distributors, forming a relatively complete chain of fraud crimes. The general distributor (the principal) was an enterprise named Xi'an Certain Biotechnology Co., Ltd., which was responsible for the product design, outer packaging design, customized promotional materials, and general distribution of the “863 Resurrection Pill.” The manufacturer was Xi'an Certain Biopharmaceutical Co., Ltd., which, commissioned by the general distributor, produced and packaged the “863 Resurrection Pill.” The distributors were spread across the country and were responsible for developing customer source information, seeking out elderly customer groups with financial strength and spending power, who paid attention to health maintenance and suffered from illnesses, grasping information such as customers’ medical history, physical condition, and personal needs, using false promotional materials to brainwash victims, fabricating therapeutic effects, and luring victims into making purchases.
 
After illegally obtaining the victims’ contact information, the gang sold “863 Resurrection Pills,” which cost 14.6 yuan per box, to the victims at prices ranging from 1,000 yuan to 6,980 yuan per box through telemarketing and cash-on-delivery via express delivery, thereby achieving the fraudulent purpose of illegal profit.
 
In September 2023, to fully dismantle fraud networks and carry out full-chain crackdowns, the Ministry of Public Security launched a synchronized nationwide cluster operation, targeting general distributors, manufacturers, and secondary distributors with precision. After more than 90 days, the entire elder fraud ring led by general distributor Qiang was apprehended.
 
 
The [1] The People's Republic of China Criminal Law
Article 266 [Fraud Crime]
Whoever defrauds public or private property, if the amount is relatively large, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years, criminal detention, or public surveillance, and shall also, or shall only, be fined; if the amount is huge or there are other serious circumstances, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than ten years, and shall also be fined; if the amount is especially huge or there are other especially serious circumstances, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than ten years or life imprisonment, and shall also be fined or have property confiscated. Where this Law otherwise provides, such provisions shall prevail.
 
[1] The author's perspective
A starch pill costing only 14.6 yuan per box was transformed through packaging design and false advertising into the "863 Revival Pill," purported to unlock the secrets of a miraculous chronic disease remedy from the 863 Program, and then sold at inflated prices ranging from 1,000 to 6,980 yuan. Most of the victims were elderly individuals…… Behind what appears to be meticulous "care" and a "panacea" that cures all diseases, there is very likely a massive trap set by criminals targeting the elderly. In recent years, China has consistently focused on promoting anti-fraud knowledge. The elderly should comprehensively strengthen their fraud prevention awareness, enhance their ability to recognize scams, and reinforce their anti-fraud capabilities. In particular, once a fraud case occurs, please immediately preserve relevant evidence and promptly report to the police for assistance.