The grey industry chain of "car fraud" with interlocking starting and ending: How can low-income households become "debtors" in car loan fraud? Used cars | institutions | car purchases | fraud | debt repayment | automobiles | finance | loans
Dare to communicate with others, afraid of being asked to collect loans and avoiding everywhere, constantly in a daze
This is the life of Liu, a rural subsistence allowance household, who has become a "debtor" in car loan fraud.
"They first took me to the supermarket to buy clothes for me to change into, and then asked me to borrow money from a car dealership to buy a car, saying that as long as I cooperate with the signature, I can earn monthly interest." To Liu's surprise, he neither bought a car nor received any interest, but was plagued by the "nightmare" of financial institutions collecting loans.
Recently, the Shanting Branch of Zaozhuang Public Security Bureau in Shandong Province has cracked a series of car loan fraud cases, and groups such as low-income earners, disabled people, and people with intellectual disabilities have become ideal "credit white households" in the eyes of fraudsters, repeatedly being deceived.
How did this group become the "debtors" of car loan fraud? What kind of grey industry chain is there behind the scenes? How should we strike and prevent it? The reporter from the Legal Daily conducted in-depth interviews, attempting to find the answer through the case.
Clear division of labor between online and offline
Fraudulent purchase and illegal profit from transportation and sales
"The fraud gang has a dedicated person who provides comprehensive packaging and training on loan car buying language. They engage in fraud between the" debtor ", financial institutions, and car sales companies, until the" loan car "sells for profit and allows the" debtor "to bear the debt, and they get away with it," Chen Deliang, a criminal investigation officer of the Shanting Branch of the Zaozhuang Public Security Bureau, told reporters.
For "debtors", scammers lure them into providing ID cards, SMS verification codes, facial recognition, video authentication, and answering follow-up phone calls from financial institutions, citing reasons such as "not paying the down payment, providing benefits for guaranteed loans," and "subsequent loans for purchasing vehicles are paid by the actual car buyer behind the scenes, and making money with them.". For car sales companies, scammers deceive them by saying, "My relatives need to buy a car, I will take them to apply for a mortgage free loan.". For financial institutions, they fabricate the work and economic level of the "debtor" in order to achieve the loan purpose. After the car loan review is approved, bring the "debtor" to the car sales store to pick up the car. After the new car is delivered, lure the "debtor" to record a voluntary car purchase video, sign a second-hand car purchase agreement, and then sell the "borrowed car" for profit.
"In order to delay the detection of scams, fraud gangs usually use the 'debtor's' bank card to repay several loans before cutting off payments. After receiving repayment reminders or debt reminders from financial institutions a few months later, the' debtor 'initially did not take it seriously, thinking that they were guaranteeing someone else and buying a car in another city. Even if they did not repay the loan, car stores and banks would not be able to come to them." Chen Deliang explained that financial institutions believed that loan contracts were signed with the' debtor, 'and if a loan was overdue and not repaid, they could only sue the' debtor 'in civil law. ".
The reporter learned that among the more than a thousand "debtors" involved in this series of car loan fraud cases, except for some who knew it was a crime but still participated in the loan and car purchase fraud, most of them were low-income households and intellectually disabled individuals who were unaware of the truth and deceived. After being burdened with debt, their already impoverished life worsened, leading to a series of problems such as family conflicts, marital discord, and father son conflict. Some "debtors" even committed suicide as a result. Some "debtors" are afraid of receiving debt reminders, so they simply change their phone numbers or turn off their phones all day long. Some are blacklisted by financial institutions due to their inability to repay loans. Due to the lack of repayment ability of "debtors", lending financial institutions have encountered a batch of bad debts and bad debts, and the financial risks involved cannot be underestimated.
In fact, "debtors" are just one level in the interconnected automobile loan fraud cases. In this gray industrial chain with obvious industrialization characteristics, criminal gangs are divided into four levels: "car dealers", "intermediaries", "debtors", and "sellers of stolen goods".
Jiang Baoge, the captain of the First Squadron of the Criminal Investigation Brigade of the Shanting Branch of the Zaozhuang Public Security Bureau, introduced that among the four levels, the top level is the "car dealer", responsible for providing funds and determining the car sales stores and models to be sold, and posting "car dealer" advertisements through various WeChat intermediary groups. After identifying the "debtor", the intermediary contacts the "car dealer" and then meets with the three parties to go to car sales stores and financial institutions to handle procedures such as loans, car pickup, and household registration. After mentioning the car, quickly switch hands to second-hand car dealerships or car trading companies as "spoilers" and sell it through online and offline channels, forming a clear division of labor and a financial fraud black and gray industry chain with "fraudulent purchase and sales" assembly line operations.
"During our investigation, we found that this type of crime is highly deceptive, has a simple operation process, and has a large potential for illegal profits. It has spread and expanded in a viral manner across the country, both online and offline. In some online platforms and second-hand car platforms selling 'licensed and taxed vehicles',' company tax offset vehicles', 'quasi new vehicles', and' mortgage vehicles' live broadcasts and posts, there are some 'loan vehicles'." Jiang Baoge said.
Lack of pre loan credit review
Lack of post loan process supervision
The interconnected grey industrial chain of "car sets" has exposed many loopholes in the regulation of automotive finance.
During the investigation of the case, the police found that financial institutions that were defrauded of loans generally have problems such as inadequate pre loan credit review and lack of post loan process supervision in their work. For example, some automotive finance companies, when applying for loans online, if the parties involved are under 70 years old, only need to submit their identification documents, mobile phone numbers, and do not need to sign at the automotive finance company or automotive sales store. They do not need to provide written information such as income proof and work unit to apply for loans online.
The reporter noticed that more than 20 financial institutions that were deceived in the case did not choose to report to the public security organs and only conducted telephone collection on the "debtor". It is generally believed that they may be temporarily unable to repay due to financial difficulties and other reasons, and lack vigilance towards overdue loans that may occur.
"More than 20 financial institutions that were defrauded of loans did not conduct on-site investigations. They only conducted online reviews of personal credit information to 'approve' loan business in seconds. Loans were issued through processes such as facial recognition and telephone follow-up. Credit investigation and review became mere formality, leading to some unemployed individuals without fixed income or even a fixed place of residence becoming recognized 'credit white households' by financial institutions," said Chen Deliang.
How did the suspect realize the sale when the ownership of the mortgaged vehicle could not be transferred? The reporter noticed that in this case, some auto sales stores and financial institutions, in order to save time, collected a "deposit" of 10000 to 20000 yuan and asked the car buyer to go through the vehicle registration and mortgage registration procedures with the traffic management department of the public security organ. The suspect took advantage of this loophole and quickly sold the car without declaring the vehicle mortgage registration, completing the entire "loan matching" criminal process.
In addition to the lack of vigilance of financial institutions, the "disregard" of car sales companies is also the reason for the success of scammers in "car fraud". "What we are most concerned about is whether the car can be sold, and it is difficult to detect whether there is a loan fraud. The fraudster took the person to the store to buy a car, but the person did not show any obvious refusal or resistance throughout the process. They also knew that they wanted a loan, and it was difficult to identify whether it was a 'fake car'," said a salesperson at a car dealership.
In the investigation, the reporter found that in order to pursue performance, the sales staff of individual automobile 4S stores still cooperated with the completion of loan, car collection and other procedures, even though they suspected that the suspect was "getting a car".
In this series of car loan fraud cases, most of the vehicles involved changed hands on the same day they were picked up. Why do some second-hand car dealers know they are "loan cars" but still sell them?
"This case exposed the lack of effective supervision in second-hand car trading. For example, the threshold for second-hand car operation is too low, and most second-hand car platforms or dealers are actually intermediaries rather than operating companies. The awareness of fulfilling legal responsibilities is not strong, and there is no strict review and control of second-hand car source information." Jiang Baoge said.
Lawyer Cheng Li from Shandong Qilu Law Firm believes that the lack of effective supervision in second-hand car transactions is related to the lag of legal provisions. At present, selling through online platforms has become a new mode of second-hand car trading, and the current "Second hand Car Trading Standards" were introduced in 2006, without regulations on online second-hand car trading behavior. The revised "Management Measures for the Circulation of Second hand Cars" in 2017 clearly stipulates that vehicles obtained through illegal and criminal means such as fraud are prohibited from distribution, buying and selling, auction, and brokerage. However, due to the lack of strong supervision, the relevant requirements have not been effectively implemented.
Strictly regulate financial business
Strictly crack down on car loan fraud
Currently, in order to stimulate consumption and boost domestic demand, relevant departments have launched preferential measures for loan car purchases. However, fraudsters exploit loopholes in the regulation of automobile finance to recruit "credit white households" in rural areas who do not have the ability to repay, and commit fraud crimes under the pretext of taking out loans to purchase cars, resulting in a large number of car loans becoming bad debts. This not only causes losses to automobile finance companies, commercial banks, etc., but also affects social and financial stability.
Industry insiders interviewed believe that multiple measures are needed to plug the loopholes. Firstly, it is necessary to strictly regulate the automotive finance business, strengthen online credit review, video verification, and telephone follow-up for lenders, and adopt on-site verification methods such as face-to-face interviews and household surveys as much as possible. Especially for "credit white households" in rural areas with low education and high age, it is necessary to carefully inquire about their true loan intentions and examine their income levels, strengthen pre monitoring and early warning, and minimize lending risks.
Secondly, we will crack down severely on car loan fraud crimes. Public security, finance, civil affairs, market supervision and other departments cooperate and make full use of big data to compare and analyze information such as car loans that have been cut off, multiple loan purchase records, no driver's license under one's name, older age, and car borrowers from low-income households. If any doubts are found, they will be pushed to the local public security organs for verification. We will deploy and carry out a special crackdown and rectification campaign on "fraudulent loan vehicles" nationwide, and widely sort out and investigate similar case clues. For the cross regional series of car loan fraud cases under investigation, we will implement listing supervision and launch a cluster campaign to achieve a full chain crackdown. At the same time, we attach great importance to the smooth connection of investigation, prosecution, and trial in such cases, unify legal understanding, improve case handling mechanisms, and enhance the quality and efficiency of case handling.
Market supervision and commerce departments should strengthen the supervision and management of second-hand car trading activities, investigate and punish illegal and irregular behaviors in accordance with the law, and transfer suspected criminal acts of buying and selling stolen goods to public security organs. Establish credit files for operators and business entities in the second-hand car trading market, and regularly publish a list of non compliant enterprises. Urge second-hand car dealers to strictly verify the seller's identity, ownership of the transaction vehicle, and purchase information, especially for "quasi new cars" with similar purchase and resale dates and limited vehicle mileage, carefully verify the legality of the vehicle and handle transaction procedures with caution. We need to implement the responsibility of information review and control on online platforms, and timely block, shut down, and delete live streaming platforms, communication groups, and posts that recruit "credit reporting white households" and publicly sell "loan vehicles".
We also need to strengthen the training of front desk sales personnel in automobile sales stores on common tricks, typical cases, prevention guidelines, and other knowledge related to loan purchase fraud, in order to improve the identification ability of automobile sales store employees. Especially for those who do not look at the car, inquire about prices, test drive, and only ask if they can apply for mortgage free car purchase services, as well as elderly car buyers who are accompanied by multiple people, strict screening is required.
It is also important to enhance the awareness of fraud prevention among middle-aged and elderly people in rural areas. Rural left behind individuals are generally older, less educated, and easily trust others. They are lured and deceived by false reasons such as "helping others buy cars, receiving benefits from loans, having no risk, and not having to bear responsibility", and become "debtors" in a confused manner. Therefore, it is necessary to focus on strengthening the anti fraud propaganda and education for the elderly population in rural areas.
