This "gunman" company is a scammer! Victims spread across the country, collecting 8500 yuan to distribute papers and magazines on behalf of a representative company, publishing, clients, refunds, ghostwriters, and authors
Seeking the services of a "gunman" to evaluate a professional title, the victim Li felt cheated after making the payment. On June 4th, the reporter learned from the Cybersecurity Bureau of the Ministry of Public Security that the person involved in the case was actually a "legitimate company" with complete procedures. Currently, the police have arrested the legal representative and other suspects of the company, and preliminary investigations have found that the victim was defrauded of more than 1.5 million yuan in funds, with victims spread throughout the country.
Advertisements like "Master's and PhD's finalization for your major, security and confidentiality, worry free after-sales service, one-on-one service, and invalid refunds!" have attracted the attention of many students who are approaching graduation, seeking internships and writing papers, as well as those who are busy with work and evaluating professional titles.
On February 13th, the victim Li reported to the Public Security Bureau of Qingyang County, Chizhou City, Anhui Province, claiming that he had been deceived in writing his paper on behalf of others. After inquiry, it was found that Li's professional title evaluation this year requires a paper to be published in a national level journal. But due to his busy family and career, he had no time to take care of both, so he wanted to find a gunman to take on the job. A company in Beijing immediately caught Li's attention, who claimed that they could not only write papers on their behalf, but also help publish them in national level journals.
Li asked how to charge, and the company said, "Your requirement is quite high. You need 8500 yuan for 10000 words, and we can offer a discount of 300 yuan for a one-time payment. You can also pay half of the deposit first and pay the final payment after the final draft is published." The other party also promised, "If it is not published, we will provide you with a free reprint or a full refund."
Li paid half of the deposit first, and after a period of time, he received an offer letter from the magazine company, which was actually a self-made offer letter from the company. The customer service of the company called and said, "The paper has been accepted by the corresponding magazine. The magazine requires that the final payment be paid within 24 hours, otherwise it will be treated as a waste." Li then transferred the remaining final payment to the other party.
However, Li was unable to wait for the paper to be published, so he contacted the customer service of the company again. However, customer service claimed that the last article was delayed and suggested that Li change the publication. Li refused and requested a refund from the company, but was repeatedly delayed by the company looking for reasons. Only then did Li realize that he had been deceived!
After receiving a report from Li, the investigating police found that the company was actually a "legitimate company" with a legal representative, a workplace, and complete procedures. The company has been engaged in writing and publishing general journal papers since 2015, but has been in a loss making state due to poor management. Starting from the second half of 2020, the company will upgrade its already severely problematic business. They take advantage of the psychology of some customers who are not familiar with the types of core journals, use invalid contract letters to deceive customers into trusting them, require customers to pay a deposit in advance, and then create false magazine recruitment notices. They use the magazine's policy of not paying the final payment within 24 hours as a pretext to treat them as abandoned manuscripts and deceive customers into paying the final payment.
The Qingyang County Public Security Bureau established an investigation team to go to Shijiazhuang, Hebei to arrest the legal representative of the company, who is one of the suspects. The company's involved computers were sealed for evidence collection, and more than 20 electronic products such as computers, mobile phones, and tablets were seized. Preliminary investigations revealed that the victims were defrauded of more than 1.5 million yuan in funds, covering various parts of the country. The case is currently under further investigation.
Online police remind friends who are engaged in learning to maintain a positive attitude. Only by putting in effort can they gain knowledge and dreams. Writing and publishing papers on behalf of others is a serious academic misconduct and can easily fall into the trap of fraud.
