Core TipsAuthor |Zhao Ruoci.Recently, Lanzhou** publicly solicited clues on the "8 17" film and television investment fraud case, and the total amount involved was as high as 700 million. Investment is only one step away from being deceived, why has film investment become a financial game full of danger and **?
Edit |Liu Yang.
There is no one who is not fooled, it depends on whether there is a suitable game. ”
Su Lin, a victim of film and television investment fraud, remitted a total of 3.3 million yuan to buy film shares in a nearly year-long chat with her "friends". At present, more than 860 days have passed since the first transfer, and she has only recovered 1% of the amount. The so-called "film investment" is a naked fraud behind it.
Where Su Lin isThere are currently more than 200 people in the WeChat group of "Victims of the Tianying Fraud Gang", and according to the information provided by everyone, she estimates that the amount of money defrauded in the group has been nearly 60 million.
On January 16, the Lanzhou Municipal People's Procuratorate and the Lanzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau jointly issued a notice to publicly solicit clues on the "8 17" film and television investment fraud case.
According to the notice, the criminal gang used the form of stock recommendation to attract investors to invest**, and then exaggerated the cost of film production and the expected income of the box office, and guided investors to buy the "revenue share" of the film to commit fraud, and only a small part of the fraudulent amount was used to pay the film producer to buy the share, and the remaining money was used to carry out fraudulent operations and personal squandering.
According to "Red Star News", there are more than 2,100 victims in this case, and the amount involved exceeds 700 million yuan.
Then, on January 22, the topic of "multiple celebrities participating in the film and television investment fraud case" appeared on the hot search. The Spring Festival movie "Hot and Hot" also issued a statement on the official Weibo, and the first producer of the film, Xinli Media Group, said that the company did not authorize any individual, company, or institution to carry out any investment and financing cooperation in the name of the film.
Movies are supposed to be dream-making machines and transparent windows to the worldIn the victim's description, film investment quietly turns into a financial game full of dangers and **.
How did it all happen?
1. Make a game and enter the game
In the complete film and television fraud industry chain, everyone is like an actor, playing different roles. Only the victims, like the protagonists in "Truman's World", walk into a set up game without knowing it.
In August 2020, Zhang Xin joined a film and television company through recruitment, and the position was "film share sales". On the recruitment software, the company gives a high salary starting at 20,000 yuan.
Before joining the company, Zhang Xin found through search that this company had indeed "invested" in many cinema movies, including blockbusters such as "My Motherland and Me" and "The Richest Man in Xihong City". There are movie posters on the walls of the company, and in addition to the basic office facilities, there is also a special screening room. He couldn't have imagined it anywayThis company is "cheating" from top to bottom.
After officially joining the company, his salary changed from 20,000 to a basic salary of 3,000 plus commission. HR said that the company's commission is 7%, and other companies are only 3%, which makes Zhang Xin feel that as long as he works hard to negotiate a large order, making money is just around the corner.
Now, Zhang Xin thinks back to all the details after joining the company, but he is shocked to realize that this is all a foreshadowing for "fraud".
This company will conduct systematic training for new employees, including the process of film production and distribution, how to box office**, how to calculate film account sharing, calculate the account sharing cycle and other professional knowledge.
In addition, managers and directors teach employeesHow to judge a person's financial resources, judge the degree of the person's "bite" on the project, and even at what stage of communication can the circle of friends who can post "hunger marketing".- Pretend that a share of a project is about to be sold out, and set "only visible to him" to the customer. ”
Zhang Xin was once distressed by his work, on the one hand, he felt that he "couldn't learn that set of things", and on the other hand, he felt that "the whole company has no other business, just cast a wide net to chat on WeChat". Zhang Xin said that at that time, there was a girl in the company who had just graduated, and she was pulled into the so-called 'film industry resource group' by the leader, and her job was to add a friend every day and chat with her.
It wasn't until they worked for a month and found that the company couldn't pay their salaries that Zhang Xin and his colleagues noticed something unusual. At the end of the month, the company seemed to have a movie scene shining into reality, "Our department is still short of more than 100,000 yuan, can you make up some", "I want to see what the company says". Similar complaints from the leaders and some rumors often flow out of the elevator room.
did not talk to a customer, the company could not pay a salary, and Zhang Xin handed in his resignation one month after joining the company. However, because the company took away his labor contract on the grounds of "stamping", Zhang Xin has not received his basic salary of 3,000 yuan so far.
Not long after, Zhang Xin saw the news of the company's explosion on the Internet, and was glad that he "didn't make an order" and "ran fast".
If Zhang Xin is not enough to play the role,The victims who have lost their real gold have a higher level of professionalism.
One day, Su Lin received a friend application, and the other party's WeChat name was "Qiu Que". Different from the "fraudulent network names" such as "light clouds" and "indifferent fame and fortune" in her impression, Su Lin glanced at the word "Qiuque" a few more times, and was curious.
After passing through a friend, the other party said that "the assistant added the wrong WeChat". In the small talk, Su Lin learned that the other party is from Ningbo, who went to the sea to do business after retiring from the army, and now does automobile energy conservation and emission reduction, and also does overseas art exhibitions for real estate development. The other party's words intentionally or unintentionally reveal his success in his career, forbearance and loneliness in life.
Su Lin told "Leopard Change" that during that time, Qiu Que chatted with her almost every day, talking about her career and family. The matter of investing in the share of film copyright was also casually mentioned by the other party "unintentionally", saying that he had friends in the film company, so he would occasionally invest in movies to earn some "pocket money", and sent screenshots of the income of "Young You" and "My Motherland and Me".
Screenshot of Su Lin's chat with Qiu Que.
In September 2021, under the step-by-step guidance of the other party, Su Lin transferred 2.1 million yuan to buy the movie "Shanghai Shanghai" 175% share. In October 2022, 1.2 million yuan was transferred and 1% of the shares were purchased again, for a total of 3.3 million yuan twice.
Su Lin said that the money is docked by a special person, the contract is filled in and carefully proofread word by word, the film has filing information, the transfer is a corporate account, and the contract indicates that the funds are transferred to the state-owned enterprise supervision account, no matter which process, it looks like a professional investment project.
But when she was still looking forward to the release of the movie and waiting for the box office results, Qiu Que suddenly stopped replying to WeChat one day. Su Lin's personal experience of this investment**, the first act fell.
2. It's not just a "pig killing plate".
Zhang Xin told "Leopard Change" that the colleagues who joined the same group as him have more or less background in the film and television industry. After joining the company, the leader said that he would use resources to promote the share of the film from acquaintances.
The more common scam routines on the Internet are similar to what Su Lin encountered: through strangers and WeChat, she creates the persona of a successful person, builds trust by asking for warmth day after day, and finally induces investment with high returns.
In addition, according to "Leopard Change", there are also some victims who are pulled into the so-called "** investment management group", and there will be a "master teacher" in the group to tell you about the ups and downs of the ** market, and then the "trust" in the group will create an atmosphere and throw out "film and television projects" in the trend. Immediately afterwards, these "trusts" began to follow the teacher to chase after them, and ordinary people unknowingly followed to buy shares.
Compared with online scams related to dating and marriage, scams in the name of "film and television investment" are more confusing and appear more "clever".
On the one hand,From investment to movie release, it can be as short as a few months or as long as a few years, and it is difficult for the deceived to find out that they have been fooled in the first place. Su Lin said that after the first remittance, about a week or two later, she suspected that she had been deceived, so she went to the local police station to report the case.
But at that time, when I checked the company's operation and turnover, I didn't find any clear problems, and it was true that "there were many people who invested money in this company". At the same time, she was blamed by Qiu Que, who said that "I feel hurt that I am so untrusted" and that "the company is a corporate account and has the endorsement of a state-owned enterprise".
In most people's consciousness, fraud is not like this, Internet fraudsters disappear after defrauding money, but they have formal film and television company business qualifications, and they do not disappear when I contact them. Su Lin said.
After that report, Qiu Que still insisted on chatting with Su Lin about work and family life every day, and almost didn't talk about investment, and she gradually let down her guard again. From the first chat in August 2021 to the discovery that the other party disappeared in June 2022, her communication with ** lasted for 10 months.
On the other hand,Many people have fantasies about the names of their investment companies on movie screens, but these people don't know much about the film and television industryWhen the other party puts out a large number of professional terms, such as subsidiaries, branches, producers, co-producers, account sharing time, etc., it is enough to stun many victims.
Zhang Xin said: "The qualifications I joined at that time cannot be shown to people casually, under normal circumstances, the words are, 'Our company has a financial custodian institution, we hold shares with them, you can see the license of the financial company'." At that time, the process of signing a contract was also very formal, and even the paper of the contract looked very advanced. ”
In order to make this situation more realistic, many so-called "film and television companies" have offline office locations, and company registration information can be searched on Qichacha and Tianyancha.
After Su Lin found out that she had been deceived, she rushed to the third floor of the film and television technology *** where she signed the contract as soon as possible, and found that the door was locked.
Then she went to the company's headquarters, Zhenjiang Tianying Films***, but not only was there no one in the company, but there was also a note posted on the door: Tell all investors that the person in charge has died of a heart attack. This is the only news that Su Lin got after she arrived at the scene, and she didn't find a single person from the film and television company, and they all "disappeared".
At present, the search for "Zhenjiang Tianying Films*** on the third floor of film and television technology*** on the enterprise check shows that the operation is abnormal, and the reason for the abnormality is "unable to contact through the registered residence or business place". Zhenjiang Tianying has a total of 10 self-risks, including 8 judicial lawsuits and 2 regulatory announcements; The third floor of film and television technology*** has a total of 2 self-risks and 30 associated risks.
3. It is difficult to distinguish between truth and falsehood
After Su Lin found out that she had been deceived, she was approached by professional legal aid. "The so-called legal aid, using their methods to help people ask for money, may get a little back in the early stage, and the little money they get back will be divided equally or 30%. This also shows from the side that the impact of this type of fraud is wide and the amount is high.
Film and television investment has always been difficult to distinguish between real and fake, and at the same time, the explosion of film and television companies is not new.
In 2020, Pinjin series ** fell into a payment crisis one after another, and a large number of wealth management products were overdue and could not be redeemed. The major shareholder of Pinjin Holdings is Chen Shuogang, who is also the major shareholder of Erdong Pictures (Beijing), a well-known domestic film and television company.
Looking back at the prospectus of Erdong Films, it has the flavor of capital operation. It states that "the vast majority of the proceeds from the investment and production management of films and series come from the transfer of some or all of the investment rights in certain films and series to co-investors at a consideration greater than or equal to our initial capital contribution." ”
Similar to the usual modus operandi in the financial markets, this is the main way for Erdong Pictures to make money, but it seems to be far from "film production".
At present, the enterprise investigation shows that Erdong Pictures (Beijing)** is in a state of existence, but it involves 63 judicial proceedings, and the amount involved in the execution is 7,551130,000 yuan, 2 business early warnings, of which judicial litigation accounted for 9692%。
Putting aside the normal way of capital operation to earn the price difference, looking back at the entire link of film and television fraud, there is a special person docking, the contract is professional without loopholes, the film has filing information, the transfer is a corporate account, and the company can check, which link is the problem?
The answer is "share".
"Share" refers to the split unit carried out through the subscription of film rights. To put it simply, the film is expensive to produce, so the film rights may be split into multiple shares** to different investors, and when the film starts generating revenue, the investors will receive dividends based on the proportion of their shares.
Su Lin said that the movies she "invested" in were real, and the state did have a record, but after investigation, it was found that she was dockedThis film company does not have a real share of the film, and the fraudsters rely on information and contracts "empty gloves white wolf".
In addition to scamming out of nothing,There is also a situation where information asymmetry is used to buy low and sell high shares. To put it simply, assuming that the cost of a ** is 100 million, and a film and television company invests 200,000 to purchase shares and become a "co-producer", and even relevant information about co-production can be found on Maoyan Professional Edition, but in the transfer process, the company conceals its true number of shares, and makes a huge difference between the transfer price and the initial investment cost.
The end result is that the company sells far more than they can deliver by transferring the share of the movie sold. Reselling movie shares from it can defraud hundreds of millions of dollars.
Behind the cold numbers and cases, there is an individual tragedy. It is understood that the oldest victim in Su Lin's group is 91 years old and has invested 1050,000 yuan. Su Lin and the victims of the "Celestial Shadow Scam" like her are still on the road to defend their rights, and she told "Leopard Change" that some victims use all their family resources for investment, and it is even difficult to take their children to eat KFC.
While investing and being scammed is only one step away, it's not inevitable.
As Zhang Xin told "Leopard Change": "In fact, the barriers in the film and television industry are very high, and it is difficult for ordinary investors to access the real film share." ”
In addition, he said that if you want to leverage big money with small money, you must at least work in this industry for a few years and have enough understanding of this industry. "There will be no pie in the sky, and the projects that make money at a glance have long been rushed by everyone in a very small capital circle, and there are almost no people who fall on them. ”
At the request of the interviewee, Su Lin and Zhang Xin are pseudonyms in the article).