Financial Union Society News on October 15th (Reporter Peng Kefeng): If a former bank employee promises you a way to make 'quick money', would you readily believe and transfer money to them? A recent case may be worth referring to.

Recently, the China Judicial Documents Online published such a typical case: After Wu Moufeng left the Nanjing Branch of Bank of Beijing, he still falsely claimed to be employed and dressed in work clothes from the past, using high interest rates as bait to deceive many people into owing billions and causing huge losses. Recently, the court's second trial ruled that the illegal fundraising charges against Wu Moufeng were not established, upheld the verdict of the first trial, that is, the fraud charge was established, and sentenced to 14 years in prison.

From recent cases, the number of bank employees concealing their departure and engaging in fraud is increasing. Recently, Financial Union Society reporters also reported that a senior employee of a major bank, after leaving their position, falsely claimed to still be employed, deceiving friends and family out of over ten million (court finally determined 6.56 million), used for stock and futures trading resulting in losses. After the case was exposed, the first trial sentenced them to eleven years and ten months in prison, and imposed a fine of two hundred thousand RMB.

Beijing Xinuo Law Firm partner Shi Xiaofeng also admitted to reporters that in the current environment, investors need to be aware of risks, not easily believe in high-interest financial promotions from others, and not trust individuals claiming to be 'bank employees'.

Wearing work clothes, living in a million-dollar mansion - a former Bank of Beijing employee used high interest rates as bait to frantically 'make money'.

According to relevant documents, Wu Moufeng, male, born in 1983, with a college education, originally worked at the Nanjing Branch of Bank of Beijing and left in June 2019, since then without a fixed job.

According to Wu Moufeng's self-report, after leaving the Nanjing Branch of Bank of Beijing, he did not inform anyone of his departure. He already had external debts when he left, started borrowing for turnover, and paying high interest to others. Afterwards, he became trapped in a vicious cycle of borrowing and repayment, using money from later people to pay back those from earlier, with some also used for living expenses.

The victim Zhu introduced that in 2016, he met Wu Moufeng through a friend, who claimed to be a staff member of the Nanjing Branch of Bank of Beijing, doing loan approvals at the bank, providing funding for customers with high returns. Subsequently, Zhu and relatives transferred money to Wu Moufeng. "I believed Wu Moufeng because every time we met, he was dressed in a suit and shirt resembling a bank uniform, drove a Mercedes, and lived in a Shangri-La community worth ten million yuan."

However, in reality, the "multi-million luxury house" where Wu Moufeng lived was not his own but rented. Relevant sources confirmed that in November 2019, Wu Moufeng rented all the houses in Building 2 of Shangri-La at No. 55 Daguang Road, with a monthly rent of 11,000 yuan, claiming to work at Bank of Beijing. In January 2023, Wu Moufeng began delaying rent payments.

The victim Mao introduced that in October 2021, Wu Moufeng contacted him actively and borrowed money citing cash flow difficulties and bridge financing, promising a high daily interest rate of two per thousand. Every time he met Wu Moufeng, he was wearing the uniform of Bank of Beijing, with his work badge, and his circle of friends kept posting information about Bank of Beijing.

The victim Yang introduced that in 2021, Wu Moufeng claimed to work at Bank of Beijing in a position equivalent to a credit card department leadership position, borrowed money from her by claiming to provide bridge financing for customers, promising a daily interest rate of two per thousand. She later handed over a large sum of money to Wu Moufeng, roughly calculating that Wu Moufeng still owes her over 4 million yuan.

According to the financial union journalist, based on the documentary content, Wu Moufeng even deceived relatives—Wu Moufeng borrowed a total of 0.5 million yuan from mother-in-law Lei on the grounds of the bank's need for fund turnover and completion of bank tasks in 2013, 2015, and 2018.

Cheating a total of 1.3 billion yuan caused losses of tens of millions, the court sentenced him to 14 years in prison.

It is understood that in August 2022, Wu Moufeng's scam finally could not be sustained. He met with investors at a relevant police station in Nanjing and turned himself in.

Wu Mou admitted that the annualized return he promised to others ranged from a minimum of 50% to over 60%. These (victims) lent money to him because they wanted to utilize his identity as a bank employee to lend money and earn high interest rates.

In the first instance, the court found that since July 2019, Wu Moufeng concealed the fact that he had resigned from the Bank of Beijing, fabricated the need for bridge financing, advance funding, turnover, etc., promised others high interest rates, borrowed funds used to pay principal and interest, resulting in the collapse of the funding chain, causing huge losses. According to the audit, from June 30, 2019 to July 2022, Wu Moufeng received a total of 132,074,005.45 yuan (0.13 billion yuan) in incoming funds, paid out principal and interest of 124,577,320.93 yuan, with a balance of 7,496,684.52 yuan, the total amount of the balance greater than 0 totaling 13,594,474.16 yuan. Ultimately, the first-instance court ruled that Wu Moufeng swindled public and private property, the amount was particularly large, and his actions constituted the crime of fraud. Wu Moufeng was sentenced to fourteen years in prison and fined one million RMB, with an order to repay the victims' money.

On October 12, the second-instance document of Nanjing Intermediate People's Court of Jiangsu Province was published. The second-instance court pointed out that because the evidence in the case could not prove that Wu Moufeng publicly promoted information on fundraising to the public, Wu Moufeng and his defense counsel's suggestion of 'considering illegal absorption of public deposits should be limited to absorbing funds from unidentified individuals' was not accepted. In addition, the relevant evidence is sufficient to prove that Wu Moufeng concealed the truth of resigning from the bank, knowing that he had no repayment ability, still fabricated facts to deceive multiple people for money, causing more than 13 million yuan in losses to multiple victims, the amount was particularly large, and his actions constituted the crime of fraud. The appeal was ultimately rejected, upholding the original judgment.