The relevant public account has been pointed out to be problematic, and there may be a motive behind the "Ten Million Yuan Search for Dogs": No one answered the notice phone | Search for Dogs | Related

Recently, a notice seeking a dog worth millions of yuan has attracted high public attention. The notice states that those who find and return their beloved dog Sirius will receive a reward of 10 million yuan.

Upstream news reporters found through investigation that after the incident attracted attention and relevant departments intervened in the investigation, the contact person on the notice, Yang Mouhan and his assistant, had their phones constantly turned off.

There is evidence to suggest that the contact person in the notice, Yang Mouhan, may be related to Zhengzhou Bingjing Media Co., Ltd. Is there really a meritorious dog named Sirius? What is the motivation behind the release of this dog search notice by relevant parties? The relevant departments have intervened in the investigation.

Assistant Yang made three phone calls requesting the deletion of the search for dogs post

Recently, the 10 million yuan search for a dog notice that occurred in Zhengzhou, Henan Province has attracted widespread attention from the outside world.

A dog search notice that has attracted widespread attention/ network

The notice states that on the evening of July 8, 2023, I lost my beloved dog, Sirius, by the Hunan River in Beilong, Zhengzhou. Sirius was wearing a black vest and was an eight and a half year old male dog. It has made significant contributions to the country through special training and will never intentionally harm anyone. If any kind-hearted person sees it, please contact me immediately. Those who provide important clues will receive a reward of 2 million RMB, and those who find and return it safely are willing to give 10 million RMB. Contact person: Yang Mohan; Phone: 1751676628X.

At the end of the notice, it is emphasized in red font that Sirius is a meritorious dog, and if he harms, he will be held accountable for his losses.

On July 9th, this dog search notice spread in the WeChat group, attracting the attention of Weibo user "Zhengzhou Wandering Animal Adoption Center". The adoption center is a public welfare organization spontaneously organized by civil volunteers to rescue stray animals.

According to insiders, on the afternoon of July 9th, the adoption center forwarded this notice of searching for a dog worth millions of yuan, and a media outlet also forwarded the search for a dog Weibo posted by the adoption center. Subsequently, the person in charge of the adoption center received three phone calls from someone claiming to be Assistant Yang. Assistant Yang first said, "Stop looking for the dog, delete the dog search notice.". Then, Assistant Yang called again and said: Mr. Yang's phone number has been exploded, which has affected normal life. Please delete the dog search notice. On the last phone call, Assistant Yang said, "The police have helped to find the dog. Please delete the notice for finding the dog.".

On the evening of July 9th, the adoption center posted another Weibo post: The dog has been found. The dog owner has contacted us, thank you for your attention.

Upstream news reporters have learned that currently, the relevant person in charge of the adoption center has accepted inquiries from the police.

Suspected related companies are organizing a lottery to attract fans

On July 9th and 10th, Upstream News reporters repeatedly called Yang Mohan, who was mentioned in the notice, as well as those claiming to be General Assistant Yang, but no one answered.

Upstream news reporters noticed that the phone number 1751676628X left on the search for dogs notice corresponds to the WeChat ID "TA", and the video ID "TY Yang Shu". The WeChat ID and video ID have the same profile picture.

The relevant official account is holding a lottery/ Respondents provide pictures

The video number "Uncle TY Yang" announced that 10000 lucky viewers were randomly selected from the official account "Twelve New Works of the Cross Era" to give away tickets and autographs for last week's 28 concert. The end date is August 15th, 2023.

The upstream reporter also noticed that the official account "Twelve New Works of the Cross Era" also released news that all copyrights of Artist Week 28 have been owned by Chinese Mainland since July 1 this year, and our company has purchased all copyrights and signed a lifetime artist agreement. A senior figure in the entertainment industry told upstream news reporters that this information is clearly false.

According to the public information, the WeChat official account "Twelve new works of cross era" was registered on June 17, 2023, and the main body of the account is Ice Crystal. Bingjing Company was established on March 8, 2023, with Yang Xuebing as the legal representative and the registered address for business registration at Room 601, 6th Floor, Zhengzhou Landmark Building "Da Maize".

The information about signing the Lifetime Artist Agreement released by the official account was deemed as false by the industry insiders/ Respondents provide pictures

On the morning of July 10th, the upstream news reporter arrived at the 6th floor of "Da Mai" and did not find any ice crystal company on that floor.

Is this dog search notice related to Ice Crystal Company? Upstream news reporters want to contact the company to inquire about relevant issues for verification. The reporter found that the business information released by Ice Crystal Company did not leave contact information. The reporter tried various methods to contact Yang Xuebing, the legal representative of Bingjing Company, but none of them were successful. But insiders say he is cooperating with relevant departments to investigate.

Does the meritorious dog Sirius really exist? What is the motivation behind the publication of this notice? Is someone using false notices to attract traffic? At present, the relevant local departments are investigating.

Related links:

Offering a reward of millions of search dogs, only redeeming 5000: the crime has not been fully committed, and the breach of contract has been reached

In response to this matter, some lawyers have stated that the finder can sue the dog owner through legal means and demand more bounties. Some even believe that the dog owner's behavior is fabricated false information, suspected of provoking trouble or deliberately spreading false information. In light cases, public security penalties will be imposed, and in serious cases, it may also constitute a criminal offense.

If spending 10 million on searching for a dog is to create a sensational effect, attract attention to the dog search notice, and increase the likelihood of finding a dog, this mentality can still be understood to some extent; But some people have proposed to "serve with criminal law", which may be on the agenda.

According to Article 317 of the Civil Code of China, the right holder shall pay the necessary fees to the person who picked up the lost property or relevant departments when collecting it. If the rights holder publishes a reward advertisement for searching for lost property, they should fulfill their obligations as promised when collecting the lost property. Bounty advertising is a contract that is publicly published to an unspecified audience and specifies specific rewards. Once the person offering the reward releases it, it constitutes an invitation; Once the other party fulfills it, it constitutes a commitment and the contract is established. Therefore, according to normal understanding, paying the dog search fee is a reasonable performance behavior.

The problem now is that the dog owner only pays over 5000 yuan, which is far from 10 million yuan. Can the person who finds the dog recover the remaining money? Obviously, this involves the value of dogs themselves. If you lose a dog, you will lose at most 108000 yuan, but if you find it, it will cost tens of millions. Compared to the two, this clearly violates the principle of fairness in civil law and goes against public order and customs, making it difficult to obtain court support.

So, does a dog owner intentionally posting such exaggerated reward advertisements without paying a 10 million yuan reward constitute a criminal act of public security violation or provocation?

According to Article 293 of the Criminal Law of China, the crime of provocation and disturbance refers to the act of causing trouble or causing chaos in public places, including chasing, intercepting, insulting, intimidating others, forcibly demanding or arbitrarily damaging or occupying public and private property, as well as disrupting social order, with serious circumstances. Posting a dog search notice clearly does not conform to any of the above situations or behavior patterns, and not paying a reward of 10 million yuan does not involve serious consequences such as causing trouble, causing disorder, or disrupting social order. If the interpretation is arbitrarily expanded and the charge is excessively applied, it is an abuse of criminal law and a disregard for the principle of legality of crime and punishment.

Indeed, in this incident, the bounty of 10 million yuan clearly exceeded the actual value of a dog, and the owner of the dog also released this extremely high bounty due to their eagerness to find the dog. But may this exaggerated reward behavior constitute the crime of fabricating and intentionally disseminating false information? In fact, according to the law, this possibility is basically zero.

Article 291-1 of the Criminal Law stipulates that anyone who fabricates false information about dangerous situations, epidemics, disasters, or police situations, spreads them on information networks or other media, or knowingly spreads them on information networks or other media, seriously disrupting social order, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years, criminal detention, or public surveillance; Those who cause serious consequences shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than seven years. It is obvious that the criminal targets of the crime of fabricating and intentionally disseminating false information are "dangerous situations, epidemics, disasters, and police situations". While the information released by the dog owner in this incident is not true, it does not belong to the above-mentioned situations, so it is impossible to say that they may be suspected of this crime.

Of course, although the law does not oppose bounty seekers making high promises of gratitude when posting bounty advertisements, it also does not support hastily speaking out and deviating from the principle of good faith due to their eagerness to find lost items. Reward advertisements have legal effect, and publishers generally have the legal responsibility to fulfill the reward contract. If a bounty giver fails to pay the bounty amount after the other party fulfills the bounty, the risk of fulfilling their promise is still significant.

However, offering a price by mouth is far from criminal responsibility, to the extent that it cannot even be considered a violation of public security. Some interpreters should not exaggerate or mislead the public.