[Brief facts of the case].
On July 8, 2013 and July 23, 2014, defendant Zhang San successively signed a cooperation agreement with a science and technology vocational college in Shandong in the name of Suzhou XX Training School and Suzhou XX Science and Technology Vocational School, and distributed them in Suzhou City's Yinqiao District, Lingbi County, Xiao County, Dangshan County, Wuhe County, Mengcheng County and other places. Posting false advertisements such as Suzhou XX Science and Technology Vocational School and the joint enrollment brochure of the school and Suzhou Vocational and Technical College, falsely claiming that training and recruiting students from a science and technology vocational college in Shandong in clinical, nursing and other majors can get the college's college graduation certificate in three to four years, and defrauding the victim of money on the grounds of charging tuition, registration fees, information collection fees, etc. From July 2013 to November 2015, defendant Zhang San successively defrauded 70 victims, including victims Tang X 2, Wu X 2, Yan X 1, Liu X 1, Wu X 1, Liu X 2, and Liu X 3, totaling RMB 567095 in Yinqiao District and Lingbi County, Suzhou City.
On December 1, 2015, the victim Tang XX2 reported the case to the Economic and Technological Development Zone Bureau of the Suzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau, which led to the incident, and the police of the bureau arrested the defendant Zhang San on the same day. After the case was discovered, the Economic and Technological Development Zone Bureau of the Suzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau seized the defendant Zhang San RMB 58,584 and a car with Anhui and Anhui license plates, and froze the defendant Zhang San's deposit 641372 in the Suzhou Guangcai Branch of China Construction Bank Co., Ltd22 yuan, in the Postal Savings Bank of China shares *** Suzhou branch deposit 5714542 yuan.
Court decision
In accordance with the provisions of Article 266 of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China, the judgment is as follows:
Defendant Zhang San committed the crime of fraud and was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment and a fine of 100,000 yuan.
[Lawyer Zhang Xiaobin's comment].
It was the college entrance examination volunteer application season, and the suggestions for volunteering were flying all over the sky.
Pheasant University" mentions it every year, and some people are "fooled" every year.
Pheasant University, also known as "academic factory" and "fake university", usually uses names that are easily confused with well-known colleges and universities, recruits students in a confusing way, and uses various means to exploit loopholes in relevant national laws and issue diplomas indiscriminately. The deception involved in Pheasant University is both fake schools and fake academic qualifications.
"Pheasant University" is run for profit, and the name is usually "rubbing" well-known colleges, which sounds very formal, but it is not. In recent years, the departments of education, public security, and internet information have continued to increase the intensity of rectification of enrollment fraud, and severely cracked down on illegal enrollment activities carried out by "pheasant universities" that have not been approved by the education administrative departments and do not have higher education qualifications. However, at the admission stage of the college entrance examination every year, individual unscrupulous institutions and personnel still try to exploit loopholes to deceive.
The crime of fraud refers to the use of fictitious facts or methods to conceal the truth for the purpose of illegal possession to defraud a relatively large amount of public or private property. It is generally believed that the basic structure of the crime is as follows: the perpetrator commits fraud for the purpose of illegal possession, the victim has a misunderstanding, the victim disposes of property based on the misunderstanding, the perpetrator obtains the property, and the victim suffers a loss of property.
In this case, the defendant Zhang San, knowing that Suzhou XX Vocational School of Science and Technology had stopped recruiting students, that Suzhou XX Training School had not been approved by the administrative organs, and that it did not have the conditions to run the school, carried out false propaganda to the public, made false promises to the victims, and induced the victims to pay him so-called tuition fees, information collection fees, and other fees, and his subjective intention to illegally take possession of other people's money was very obvious, and his conduct met the constitutive elements of the crime of fraud, and he should be investigated for criminal responsibility for the crime of fraud.
[Legal Provisions].
Article 266 of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China [Crime of Fraud] stipulates: "Whoever defrauds public or private property, and the amount is relatively large, 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 or indefinite imprisonment is to be given, and a concurrent fine or confiscation of property. Where this Law provides otherwise, follow those provisions. ”
[Conclusion].
How to distinguish between formal colleges and "pheasant universities"?
The Ministry of Education reminds that when applying for colleges and universities or receiving admission notices from colleges and universities, it is necessary to achieve "three verifications":
The first is to check the school. As of June 15, 2023, there are a total of 3,072 colleges and universities in the country, and the list has been released on the Ministry of Education's **portal** and the official WeChat***Weiyan Education". Candidates and parents can check and verify by visiting the official website or the official WeChat "Weiyan Education" and "University List" columns.
The second is to verify the willingness. All provincial enrollment*** colleges and universities that have the qualifications for college entrance examination enrollment and enroll students in this province have been included in the college entrance examination voluntary filling system. Candidates must and can only fill in the college and professional preferences in the provincial college enrollment volunteer filling system where the student is from.
The third is to verify admission. After receiving the admission notice issued by the university, candidates and parents can check and verify the admission status through the official website of the provincial enrollment *** where the student is from.
[Case**].
China Judgment Network, Anhui Province, Suzhou City, Yongqiao District People's Court (2016) Anhui 1302 Xingchu No. 82X Criminal Verdict.