Online gambling has a strong concealment, and forms of multi-attack online gambling need to show muscles and more skills.
□ Our reporter Wang Chun Our correspondent Hu Congying
While many traditional industries are struggling to realize the new economic development form of "internet plus", I didn’t expect illegal gambling to get on the bus early.
Gambling machine, Mark Six Lottery, Stud, Mahjong Pai Gow … … The traditional gambling methods in the past no longer meet people’s needs. With the development and popularization of network technology and the frequent replacement of social entertainment projects, gambling no longer relies solely on realistic means, and gambling forms through network virtual methods are becoming more and more diverse.
Wechat grabs red envelopes and online silver merchants … … The emerging online gambling has now become an important form of gambling, which is getting worse. Some criminals take advantage of the convenience, rapidity and concealment of the Internet to carry out online gambling in various forms, and some gamers are trapped in the fog of traps.
The amount involved in online gambling is extremely high.
Online gambling has a distinctive feature, which is the convenience, low cost and low risk of operators and participants. Its participants can stay at home, just click the mouse at home to participate in the virtual gambling places; For the operators of online gambling, they don’t need much investment. They just need to set up a website and use a server to easily build a virtual casino and organize people to participate in gambling.
In 2015, the People’s Court of Yongjia County, Wenzhou City, Zhejiang Province concluded 128 cases involving 338 gambling crimes, including 5 cases involving 14 people, involving a total amount of 738 million yuan.
At present, as a medium between gambling game websites and players, "silver merchants" have become an important participant in online gambling. In recent years, Yongjia Court has accepted many criminal cases involving online gambling to investigate "silver merchants".
Zhang Qingxin, vice president of the criminal court of Yongjia Court, told the reporter of Legal Daily that "silver merchants", as middlemen, specialize in the exchange and settlement of virtual game coins and RMB on the game website, and earn the difference by constantly buying and selling them, thus attracting more people to participate in gambling. Because the price of game coins sold by "silver merchants" is generally lower than the official recharge price, it attracts a large number of players to trade with them. The game money won by players can only be converted into cash through the "silver merchants", so the gambling game website and the "silver merchants" have become interdependent and mutually beneficial cooperation.
Last year, Yongjia Court accepted a case of "silver merchants" pursuing responsibility. Seven people involved in the case acted as "silver merchants" on the game website, buying and selling "silver" through QQ account and bank transfer, and the amount of bank cards used for this activity was as high as 500 million yuan. In the end, the court sentenced the defendant to four years and six months to ten months in prison for opening a casino.
With the fire of WeChat red envelopes, a new gambling method has also emerged. Due to the randomness of the amount of WeChat red envelopes, some lawless elements have exploited this loophole.
Around July 2015, Zhou, a post-80s woman, set up a WeChat group by using mobile phone WeChat. She was the owner of the group, and Chen Mou and others, who were also post-80s women, were hired as a package. The package was distributed on behalf of the package and the first salary was drawn. Self-made rules organized people in the group to gamble in the form of grabbing red envelopes. In the end, the court sentenced three defendants to corresponding penalties for gambling.
Zhang Qingxin, the judge in charge of the case, said that sending red envelopes in the WeChat group, if it is a small amount of mutual exchange between friends, can be regarded as a gift and does not involve illegality; However, if it is a group of red packets for profit, it is suspected of gambling.
Cross-border features are obviously concealed.
In recent years, all kinds of illegal and criminal activities of online gambling are spreading in China, and the gambling patterns are constantly being renovated, the number of gamblers is increasing, and the amount involved in gambling is increasing, which has become a major public hazard. At the same time, the forms of online gambling are constantly changing, and the work of banning gambling is facing a severe situation.
It is understood that with the development of network technology, the phenomenon of gambling by means of internet and online financial payment has developed rapidly. This kind of gambling is mainly caused by overseas online gambling groups establishing the organization chain of gambling activities in China by means of agency and expanding by means of pyramid schemes. Online gambling activities are concealed and spread rapidly, especially in areas with developed economy and Internet information technology.
Dr. Li Huaisheng of China University of Political Science and Law, who has been engaged in the research of cyber criminal law for a long time, believes that the amount involved in online gambling is often huge because of the virtuality and infinite extension of cyberspace, and more gambling shady scenes may still be hidden underwater, and the cross-border characteristics of online gambling are obvious. Although China has criminal jurisdiction over the behavior of overseas gambling groups to attract mainland residents to participate in gambling in criminal law, it is objectively difficult to punish them because of cumbersome procedures.
It is understood that due to the virtuality and cross-regional nature of the network, the managers in gambling sites are isolated from each other and have strong concealment, which makes it difficult for major shareholders or bookmakers to be captured. Gambling companies use virtual hosts, hosting hosts, etc. to publish gambling advertising information, but also constantly change network addresses and domain names, which has certain anti-detection ability; When arresting the people involved, once the gambler disconnects the network connection or turns off the computer, a lot of evidence in the server will be lost. At the same time, gambling funds are often paid online by credit card or transferred by bank, while agents usually have several bank accounts, and the capital turnover channels are complex and hidden, so it is difficult to find out all the crime amounts and the total amount of illegal profits.
In 2015, Heilongjiang police cracked a large transnational online gambling case, involving trillions of dollars, but it encountered many difficulties in the early investigation stage. The police found that "Dafa 888" online gambling activities had more than 30 branches of gambling websites such as "Horizon Asia" and "Paradise", and the gambling personnel were distributed in more than 10 provinces across the country, which generally caused heavy losses. This website can connect with overseas casinos and broadcast the gambling activities of related casinos live, thus realizing the synchronization of domestic gambling and overseas casinos.
For the police of the task force, the only breakthrough in the case before us is the confusing gambling webpage and the bank card number retained on the webpage for gambling transactions. The ownership of these cards is false, and the bank cards are illegally purchased from China by overseas gambling gangs, and each card is linked with thousands or even tens of thousands of cards at the same time. Once gambling funds enter the bank cards published in gambling sites, these funds will be quickly transferred to a series of bank cards linked to the card, making it difficult for the police to track down the whereabouts of the funds.
Similarly, Zhejiang Songyang police moved to Hanoi, Vietnam and 10 Yu Sheng cities all over the country for more than 100,000 kilometers, and finally successfully cracked the "998" mega-transnational online gambling case, involving more than 400 billion yuan, which also faced similar investigation problems. Until April this year, with the cooperation of the Chinese and Vietnamese police, Zhou, the main criminal of the case notified by the international red, was successfully pursued and brought to justice from Hanoi, Vietnam. At present, there are still three principal criminals fleeing abroad, and the case is still under investigation.
Strike hard and prevent with big data
The Internet is a double-edged sword. In recent years, the illegal crimes of gambling by using the Internet are on the rise, and a large number of crimes such as robbery, theft and fraud have been induced.
With the social transformation and the diversification of values, some people have a weak legal awareness, and even think that gambling and opening casinos are just ‘ Prohibition is not illegal ’ Blurred the line between gambling and entertainment, and lacked due vigilance against gambling-related crimes. What’s more, in order to pursue excitement and hope to get rich overnight, they boldly gambled.
It is urgent to crack down on online gambling. On June 30th this year, Guo Shengkun, State Councilor and Minister of Public Security, demanded that illegal and criminal activities, such as online gambling, which were strongly reflected by the masses, should be severely cracked down in accordance with the law, and efforts should be made to build a comprehensive prevention and control system for the online society, so as to continuously improve people’s sense of security and satisfaction.
Hu Jianwu, president of the criminal trial court of Yongjia Court, said that gambling not only endangers public order, but also easily leads to other crimes that infringe on citizens’ personal rights or endanger social order, which is very harmful to society and should be severely cracked down. In order to crack down on online gambling, the court must play its criminal trial function, severely punish gambling-related crimes according to law, and ensure social harmony and stability. To completely eliminate online gambling, the most important thing is that people who are deeply involved in online gambling can get out of the quagmire. In reality, many people vent their emotions and release their pressure through online games, and online gambling is constantly tempting to "take the bait" under the guise of games; Players’ appetite is getting bigger and bigger after tasting the "sweetness", and they are increasingly unable to extricate themselves. Only the people in the game can ignore the temptation and get out of the trap fog, can the network really be a pure land.
"Yongjia Court will continue to adhere to the zero tolerance attitude towards gambling crimes, give full play to the role of property punishment, cut off the sources of funds for gambling crimes, effectively curb all kinds of gambling-related criminal activities, and prevent the recurrence of gambling-related crimes." Hu Jianwu said that the court will strengthen information exchange with the public security bureau and the procuratorate, and further build a communication platform between functional departments on the basis of regular joint meetings of the public security inspection law. In addition, further strengthen the docking with the Judicial Bureau in community correction, help correct criminals’ gambling habits, and promote their smooth return to society.
"Online gambling has been very popular in recent years. Because of the non-contact nature of the Internet, online gambling is not limited by time and space. The objective harm is much higher than that of ordinary gambling, and it is difficult to investigate." Gao Yandong, director of the Internet Criminal Law Research Center of Zhejiang University Law School, said that in the Internet age, we must have a sense of big data, rely on big data, and use technology to technology. On the Internet, everyone swims naked. No matter how gambling sites covers it up, how anonymous the gamblers are, transfer records and chat records all leave traces. In the era of big data, all this should belong to nowhere to hide.
Gao Yandong believes that the police in the Internet age need not only muscles, but also technology. Law enforcers should be good at using big data to improve their data analysis and tracking capabilities. Only by using technology to technology, can online gambling not be initiated and checked, and online gambling can be truly curbed.
"Combating online gambling is not an easy task, and it needs the joint efforts of all parties. In addition to the judicial departments such as the Public Prosecution Law, it is inseparable from the support of Internet companies. " Gao Yandong suggested that Internet companies like Alibaba and Tencent have more data and higher technical capabilities than law enforcers. Law enforcers should be brave enough to try, introduce and use private forces to make up for shortcomings in law enforcement and crack down on Internet crimes including online gambling.
Draw/Gao Yue
