Mr. Wang and his friends looked for expired food and counterfeit and shoddy food in a number of large and medium-sized supermarkets, and after purchasing, the two took the shopping receipts, expired food and the supermarket to negotiate, demanding compensation from the supermarket and saying that if they did not compensate, they would report to the market supervision and management department or sue the court. In this way, the two received a total of 50,000 yuan in compensation.
So does the behavior of Mr. Wang and his friends constitute the crime of extortion?
Mr. Wang and his friends extorted a total of 50,000 yuan from the supermarket by threatening to buy expired food and fake and shoddy food on the Internet, report to the Market Supervision and Administration Bureau or file a lawsuit in court, and the amount of punitive damages claimed from the supermarket far exceeded the statutory limit. Mr. Wang and his friend's conduct was for the purpose of illegal possession, extorting property from others on multiple occasions, and the amount was relatively large, meeting the subjective and objective elements of the crime of extortion, and should constitute the crime of extortion.
The legal basis is as follows:
Article 274 of the Criminal Law [Crime of Extortion] Whoever extorts public or private property, where the amount is relatively large or extorts multiple times, is to be sentenced to up to three years imprisonment, short-term detention or controlled release, and/or a fine;where the amount is huge or there are other serious circumstances, a sentence of between 3 and 10 years imprisonment and a concurrent fine is to be given;where the amount is especially huge or there are other especially serious circumstances, a sentence of 10 or more years imprisonment and a concurrent fine is to be given.
Article 55 of the People's Republic of China Consumer Rights and Interests Protection**: Where business operators commit fraud in providing goods or services, they shall, at the request of consumers, increase the compensation for the losses they suffer, and the amount of the increased compensation shall be three times the price of the goods purchased by the consumers or the cost of the services they received;Where the amount of increased compensation is less than 500 RMB, it is 500 RMB. Where the law provides otherwise, follow those provisions.
Where proprietors clearly know that the goods or services are defective, but still provide them to consumers, causing death or serious harm to the health of consumers or other victims, the victims have the right to demand that the proprietors compensate for losses in accordance with articles 49, 51 and other legal provisions of this Law, and have the right to demand punitive damages of up to twice the losses suffered.
Every consumer has the right to supervise food producers and sellers, but the right cannot be abused, otherwise it will cause more problems. In addition, food producers and sellers should also produce and sell regular food in strict accordance with relevant standards, so as not to give criminals an opportunity to take advantage of it.