Reborn Cat Sheriff

Chapter 216 Foolish and Rich People, Come and Scam Them Quickly
Lin Ge meowed at Xie Changjun as a greeting, then stretched out his claws and frantically scratched at the door panel, the screeching sound sending chills down one's spine.

"I'm coming!"

The people in the office were quite impatient. Opening the door and seeing Lin Ge, they said with a helpless expression, "Little rascal, this door isn't a cat scratching post, don't break it. So, what errands have you found this time that require us to run errands?"

This is a round-faced male police officer with dark circles under his eyes, complaining in Mandarin mixed with local dialect while yawning.

But it was clear that he was in a pretty good mood seeing Lin Ge. He jokingly welcomed Lin Ge inside, glanced at Xie Changjun outside, sighed, and shook his head.

Xie Changjun was about to speak when the policeman waved his hand and closed the door.

"Ow!"

Lin Ge blocked the doorway, preventing him from closing it.

The man was taken aback for a moment, then saw Lin Ge turn around and call out to Xie Changjun, and only then did he realize the purpose of this troublesome little guy's visit.

Xie Changjun wasn't stupid either; he chuckled and approached.

"Director Yang!"

"You cat, you're really causing me trouble!"

Deputy Director Yang ignored Xie Changjun, abandoning his plan to close the door and returning to his desk. Seeing Lin Ge casually leading Xie Changjun and two children in, he sighed helplessly, "Comrade Xie, couldn't you wait a couple more days? You've seen the situation at our municipal bureau these past two days; we're truly overwhelmed. See my eyes? I haven't had a full night's sleep in two days! Tell me, where am I supposed to find someone to help you right now?"

"I'm really sorry. But Director Yang, as you know, the case can't wait!"

Xie Changjun bowed slightly to Deputy Director Yang with a guilty expression, then said with a wry smile, "Although the case I'm handling this time is just a small one compared to the ones you've done, and not worth comparing with your work, it is still a request from the people and an expectation they have of us police officers. So... for the sake of the people, please ask a colleague to assist me with my work. I will handle it as soon as possible and not cause you too much trouble."

Deputy Director Yang tried to stall for time, but Lin Ge suddenly jumped onto his desk. He didn't say a word, just stared at him intently with calm eyes.

After staring at each other for a long time, Deputy Director Yang gave in.

After all, he's an ancestor.

After yawning and sighing, Deputy Director Yang waved his hand and said, "There's definitely no one available, but I'm only 160 pounds, so I'll reluctantly do a little more work. Tell me what's going on, and everyone, please sit down, don't stand."

Xie Changjun did not expect that Deputy Director Yang would choose to step forward himself.

However, this also shows that the Zhuzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau really couldn't spare a single person. After all, in a prefecture-level city, besides two murder cases, there is a jurisdiction of more than one million people whose security needs to be maintained. When things get busy, no one can take a break.

Xie Changjun thanked him, then asked Xie Tailong and the other child to sit on the sofa before continuing, "Here's what happened: the Jinhua City Public Security Bureau, where I work, received a report from a citizen who said they had been scammed online and had been cheated out of gold products worth over 800,000 yuan..."

"Wait a minute! Eight hundred thousand taels of gold?"

Deputy Director Yang interrupted Xie Changjun, asking in astonishment, "Did I hear that right? The current price of gold is less than 400, so 800,000 is only about two kilograms, more than four pounds of gold? What does he do? Why would he give so much gold to fraudsters?"

Lin Ge stared wide-eyed in astonishment. How was this thing stolen? Was it an online scam?
Xie Changjun seemed speechless as well, smiling bitterly as he said, "This whole thing is still a classic online investment scam. From the very beginning, with the fake order cashback scheme, the fraudsters seemed to have planned a long-term strategy to reel in bigger profits. The initial cashbacks of tens, hundreds, or even two thousand yuan were received smoothly and promptly by the victims. Under these circumstances, she completely believed the fraudsters' lies. She was also very tempted by the gold investment business they proposed. So she bought a large number of gold bars from gold shops and banks and mailed them all to the fraudsters. From the initial cashback of one hundred yuan for every thousand yuan of gold, to one thousand five hundred yuan for every ten thousand yuan, her appetite grew bigger and bigger as the fraudsters lured her in. In the end, the gold she mailed out in one go was worth over five hundred thousand yuan! But at this point… the fraudsters disappeared! All the principal she sent out, including what was still in transit, vanished without a trace…"

Under the incredulous gazes of Deputy Director Yang, Lin Ge, and the two children, Xie Changjun briefly recounted the details of the case.

To put it bluntly, it's a typical online scam that uses phishing to trick people into investing more money before disappearing without a trace. It's a simple, yet incredibly effective, method that lures many people in with their greed. As the internet age increasingly reaches the middle-aged and elderly, electronic fraud is becoming more rampant. Ultimately, it all boils down to greed. Many victims, even knowing the other party is a scammer, still gamble with the hope of getting away with it, falling headlong into the trap.

Of course, this time... it really went too far. A gold worth 500,000, and before that, having already received the return of the previous 200,000 and the 100,000 plus interest, they couldn't wait to place another bet?

In this situation, even if the other party isn't a scammer, they might still be tempted to have ulterior motives, right?

Money can be a powerful motivator; how can one trust an online identity they've never met?

Lin Ge couldn't understand it.

After hearing the whole story, Deputy Director Yang nodded, indicating he understood Xie Changjun's meaning. However, he still frowned and asked doubtfully, "But what does this have to do with Zhuzhou City? Did you find out that the fraudsters are in Zhuzhou City?"

Xie Changjun shook his head, his smile growing even more bitter. “This victim handed over the gold bars to the fraudsters via express delivery. According to the tracking numbers, these packages were all sent to a courier station in Quanzhou, Fujian Province. However, after the courier station contacted the buyer, they were asked to resend the packages, with the buyer paying the delivery fee online. Your city, Zhuzhou, Hunan Province, was the second stop for these gold bars. And the delivery address was still the courier station. I don't know how long this gold will circulate among courier outlets across the country, but there's no doubt it will be intercepted at some courier station along the way and converted into something else to continue its journey…”

Deputy Director Yang nodded, having already understood the fraudsters' methods.

By transferring and transporting the goods multiple times, the perpetrators conceal themselves at one of the intermediate stages of the journey. Compared to the negligible shipping costs, this method is remarkably effective in hiding the fraudsters.

Even if some of the packages have problems, the fraudsters will not suffer any losses, since it is all ill-gotten gains.

Even that location in Quanzhou, Fujian Province, may very well be just the first outlet targeting this one victim.

Deputy Director Yang quickly sorted out his thoughts and questioned, "But with this method, the fraudsters would leave many contact details and contact each courier station posing as buyers. In that respect, the flaws they reveal should not be small."

"That's why I traveled all the way to Zhuzhou."

Xie Changjun said, "Based on the clues we have, almost all of these phone numbers were registered using other people's identities. Furthermore, according to the telecommunications company's records, the communication locations are spread across the entire country. In other words, this group of fraudsters is likely a large-scale nationwide fraud organization. They have even developed countless subordinates who follow their orders to complete the 'goods' transfer process. The phone information with untraceable identities, the network of contacts across the country, the fraudulent methods that never involve showing faces, and the willingness to use heavy bait—Director Yang, there is no doubt that this is a very large fraud group, and we must take it seriously."

"I understand!"

Deputy Director Yang's expression also turned serious. He nodded and said, "For this kind of cunning crime that we can't find any evidence against, we can basically only use stupid methods. It seems you plan to have people involved in the inspection at every junction along the express delivery route, right? The fraudsters may pick up the gold at the second stop, or maybe the third, the fourth stop... In short, you are in charge of the situation at our Zhuzhou branch?"

Xie Changjun smiled and relaxed: "Yes! So this requires the cooperation of your Zhuzhou Public Security Bureau. After all, it is a huge undertaking to investigate the address of the express delivery tracking number and all the people who may have come into contact with the express delivery in detail."

"You're essentially investigating everyone along this endlessly extending delivery route! Tsk tsk! Jinhua really is a wealthy city, with lots of people, lots of money, and quite the fuss!"

Deputy Director Yang clicked his tongue in envy, finally not giving a perfunctory answer this time.

"There's no other way! Actually, we're also short-staffed. Otherwise, I wouldn't be the only one who came to Zhuzhou. We would have to ask other units for help, which would have delayed your work."

Xie Changjun remained sincere, because without the help of the Zhuzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau, he truly had no way to complete the task. To put it bluntly, Xie Changjun was merely a liaison officer, there to plead with the Zhuzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau for their assistance.

He is very clear about his own position.

Squatting beside him, Lin Ge was truly amazed.

He never imagined that scammers could be so sophisticated these days.

Not only do they openly use the courier system to transport stolen goods, but they also have a complete process for fraud, transfer, and switching of goods.

According to Xie Changjun, this group of fraudsters treated stolen goods of different values ​​differently. The higher the value of the stolen goods, the longer they took to travel through the courier system. Based on the packages already traced using tracking numbers, one gold bar worth over 100,000 yuan had already traveled six times, from north to south and then back again. Even if the victim noticed something was wrong, they could only contact the first transit station and had no way of knowing where their package had gone. Another gold bar, worth only 3,000 yuan, was already empty when the police recovered it at the fourth station.

In other words, this group of fraudsters has at least one or three to five channels for receiving goods across the country, and these are the people who actually get their hands on the money.

Furthermore, with the rise of online shopping, purchasing valuable items online is no longer surprising. Therefore, even if the courier company discovers that the package contains precious metals or is empty, they will not be surprised and will call the police, but will instead reroute it as required.

Deputy Director Yang had to admit that this was indeed a relatively sophisticated method of fraud and money laundering.

Although there are significant risks involved in transporting goods, the fact that it's a business with no initial investment, coupled with the strict regulatory and standardized operations of large courier companies, still allows fraudsters to trust it and turn it into a legitimate way to hide themselves.

"Is this a large-scale nationwide fraud organization? You've given us a lot of trouble! To investigate further, we'll even need the cooperation of the postal service. Hmm... We can't be too slow; it's best to start simultaneously in all regions, giving the other party no chance to react or pick up the goods in advance."

Deputy Director Yang pondered for a moment, beginning to consider how to solve the case.

He could pretend he knew nothing before, but now that he knows the seriousness of the case, and because of Lin Ge's request, he can no longer shirk his responsibility.

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(End of this chapter)