Film bureau head Zhang Hongsen said box office cheating twists the market and damages both the producers and cinemas, especially for producers since their profits rely heavily on the box office. Artificially inflated figures help attract larger audiences, act as leverage when courting investors for future projects and can even increase the stock prices of movie production companies.

Authorities have long since believed that inflated box office receipts are common in China, however suspicions were further raised upon review of the 2015 box office numbers. Over the course of last year, Chinese films took in 44 billion yuan ($6.7 billion), an astonishing 49 percent increase from the year before.

Guangzhou Daily reported last October that producers for the Chinese hit film, Lost in Hong Kong, held “phantom screenings” late at night in which no audience members were present as a way to increase the film’s box office. Reports also claim that Edko Film, producer of Monster Hunt, China’s highest grossing domestic film of all-time, scheduled screenings of the movie some 15 minutes apart in theaters it owned or had a stake in as a way to artificially inflate the movie’s earnings. This helped the film push its earning ahead of Hollywood blockbuster, Furious 7.

The Hollywood Reporter has alleged that Communist Party officials were responsible for artificially inflating the box office last month for the nationalist film, The Hundred Regiments Offensive, at the expense of Hollywood blockbuster Terminator: Genysis, which is said to have lost around $11 million as a result.

Perhaps most damning, an Enlight Pictures executive was reported by China Daily to have posted on Weibo that it was not to blame for box office tampering, because everyone was doing it. The post has since been deleted.

The post China Artificially Inflating Box Office Figures, But Vows a Crackdown appeared first on The Nanfang.

In a statement, Uber said it suspected Wang of fraud because he had logged so many more work hours than his peers. “The accounts were registered … with fake information, and the records of the trips from those accounts looked dubious,” said Uber.

Wang has yet to be formally charged by police.

This past June, a report by Tencent (a financial backer of Uber’s competitor, Didi Kuaidi) suggested that millions of booked Uber rides were faked by its drivers in order to qualify for subsidies.

Tech in Asia made the argument that this type of fraudulent behavior may have been beneficial to Uber (at the time):

On the one hand, it is essentially being stolen by “drivers” who aren’t actually taking passengers anywhere. But on the other hand, the increased rides count that all of these fake drivers provide helps bolster Uber’s China stats when it’s looking for investment – like it is right now.

The post Uber Driver in Shanghai Arrested for Earning Money on Non-Existent Passengers appeared first on The Nanfang.

However, with many Chinese cities now covered in traffic surveillance cameras, distinguishing between those genuinely in need and those looking to make a buck has never been easier. Take the recent case of an eighty year-old Beijing woman for example.

The woman, named Zhang, claimed a female cyclist struck her while she was walking down the street. The surveillance footage tells a different story, however. We can see Zhang walking in the middle of a pedestrian path, and after a vehicle passes to her right, she falls to the ground. Unfortunately, Zhang falls into the path of a cyclist, who collides with her, unable to get out of the way in time. The cyclist herself then falls.

Following the accident, Zhang was adamant that the cyclist had struck her first, a story she recounted to the police when they arrived. Yet eyewitnesses refuted Zhang’s version of the truth. According to one person, Zhang was angry that their account of the event was inconsistent with hers, telling the witness: “This is none of your concern, what are you doing calling the police?”

Netizens were quick to turn on the old woman, calling her cheat and a fraud: “Send her to heaven (by killing her),” said one netizen, while another said “I’ll put in ten yuan. Who will kill this old lady for me?”

Other netizens wanted the old woman to be held legally accountable for making false accusations. One person said, “Entrapping other people should garner a punishment, or else it will continue to spread,” while another said “Severely punish her! If this type of crime is not punished, what meaning is there is our country’s laws? What justice is there on earth?”

Another netizen turned the entire situation on its head, saying, “If the cyclist is injured, does that mean the old person must compensate her?”

Here’s a news video that contains footage of the incident (starts at 3:23):

The post Elderly Scams Make Chinese Think Twice Before Helping appeared first on The Nanfang.

Originally from Shanghai, Wang “Sunny” Xun, 46, plead guilty to eight charges stemming from his unlicensed immigration consulting businesses, New Can Consultants (Canada) Ltd. and Wellong International Investments Ltd. Wang was charged with such crimes as fraud, and failing to pay CDN $731,000 in federal income tax.

Wang helped his clients, the majority of whom were from China, obtain citizenship or permanent residency status in Canada by altering their passports and forging stamps to appear as though applicants had resided in Canada for longer than they actually had.

The result of a two-year investigation by Canada Border Services, 165 of Wang’s clients were alleged to have been involved in “significant immigration fraud”. However, Sohu News reports that up to 1,200 immigrants may have been assisted by Wang over the course of five years.

According to immigration expert and senior lecturer at Simon Fraser University’s School of Criminology, Barry Cartwright, Wang’s clients may find their citizenship and residency bids in jeopardy: “If it’s egregious enough, if the person knowingly had false visas in their passport to mislead people … they should have their citizenship revoked.”

The post Fraud Sentencing May Revoke Canadian Citizenship for 1,200 Chinese Immigrants appeared first on The Nanfang.

In an attempt to “clean the internet” of “improper online speech”, the Ministry of Public Security arrested suspects committing a number of internet crimes, including illegally obtaining personal information, tampering with online information, uploading gambling content, and fraud. Some suspects allegedly hacked into company and government websites before committing the crimes.

The Ministry reported that police investigated approximately 7,400 cases of internet crime, but there’s no word on when the arrests were made.

The announcement comes just days after some 50 Chinese websites were shut down for “spreading false rumors” about the Tianjin explosions and “inciting panic”. The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) permanently closed 18 websites and suspended another 32 for publishing stories that claimed  “more than 1,000 people were killed” in the Tianjin blasts.

The Associated Press says at least one person was detained for allegedly reporting an exaggerated death toll of the blasts.

The crackdown seems to have effected online netizen discussion of the Tianjin blasts, which has been notably muted in tone. The BBC reported that Chinese authorities censored online discussion in the wake of the blast, targeting articles and discussion threads referencing the terms “Tianjin” and “explosion”. Chinese netizens have been most critical regarding the lack of local Tianjin media coverage the day following the August 12 explosion.

Earlier this year, more than 200 lawyers, bloggers and activists were targeted with police detention and questioning. Amnesty International called the police action “unprecedented”, arguing that the “Chinese authorities must end their assault on human rights lawyers.”

The post China Cracks Down Online, Arresting Thousands for Internet Crimes appeared first on The Nanfang.

So far as casual observers can see, China’s leadership has had three reservations about Macau’s post-1999 Mainlander-oriented gambling industry.

First is that access to the casinos facilitates and encourages moral lapses among Chinese officials, by giving corrupt individuals the means to launder dirty cash and by tempting them to acquire illicit funds with which to gamble. (Interesting how Macau gambling and Mainland corruption stimulate each other.)

Second is simply a mercantilist concern about the currency outflow and the feeling that this is money that could stay in the Mainland and benefit local economies. (Hence occasional calls for casinos to be legalized in Hainan and other provinces.)

Third is nationalistic resentment at the way American casino operators scoop up much of the profits. The Hong Kong and other ethnic Chinese gambling/hotel interests have obvious reasons to encourage this sentiment. And bearing that in mind…

A fourth now comes to light: fears that American-owned casinos serve as fronts for US influence in Macau, and host CIA agents who target Mainland officials for blackmail. The Standard has a quick summary here.  The story itself is in the Guardian, which managed to obtain a document submitted as part of an unfair dismissal case in Nevada against casino operator Sands. The document was a report commissioned by Sands to investigate possible political problems the company was facing as it tried to expand in Macau. The Guardian presents the Vickers Report, as it is known, here.

The report dates from 2010, before Xi Jinping’s rise to the top and the launch of the anti-corruption campaign that has hit the Macau gambling sector quite hard. Much of it covers the background of Macau Chief Executive Fernando Chui Sai-on (rich family, trusted by Communist Party, etc). But it also suggests that Beijing viewed Sands in particular as pretty much intertwined with US government interests.

The suspicions about the CIA are not very surprising: casinos probably offer spooks excellent ‘asset-recruitment’ opportunities. What is more telling is the apparently instinctive paranoia among Chinese officials about foreigners and their motives. If the report is accurate, they see the US government and US companies as indistinguishable in terms of national security risk. In other words, Sands’ lust for more market share and more profit was interpreted in Beijing as an attempt by Washington to undermine Chinese sovereignty in Macau. This was five years ago under Hu Jintao; it can only be worse now.

Of course, Macau’s local casino owners would have a big interest in encouraging this sort of paranoia among Chinese officials. The report seems to conclude with mention of aging mogul Stanley Ho, but, disappointingly, that last page is blacked out. However, the investigative agency that wrote it, Hong Kong-based Steve Vickers Associates, have recently mentioned that nationalism could affect prospects for foreign-owned casinos in Macau.

The other noteworthy thing about the report is a linguistic quirk. Where most of us would write ‘Bob bent over to tie his shoelaces’, the report says ‘Bob bent over; this to tie his shoelaces’. If it was just once, we wouldn’t notice – but this curious construction appears on nearly every page.

As it happens, Sands boss Sheldon Adelson and President Obama are not best buddies, but that’s probably by the by.

The post CIA Accused of Using Macau Casinos to Target Mainland Cadres appeared first on The Nanfang.

Four middle-aged Wuhan women were arrested on June 26 for running an online brothel that was staffed with imaginary prostitutes that looked like Japanese AV starlets.

The women had been running a group on the QQ social platform that swindled men into paying for prostitutes that didn’t exist. Victims were targeted throughout China, but were mostly male factory workers in Guangdong between the ages of 20 and 30.

The women behind the ring were all from the same family, in their 40s, and only had primary school educations.

Police were first made aware of the sex ring when a man named Jiang reported to the Ailian police in Shenzhen last May that he had been cheated out of RMB 7,500 when attempting to buy sex online.

The subsequent police investigation found a sophisticated organization with each member assigned specific tasks. The women were using 17 phones to communicate with their clients, sometimes using voice-alteration software to conceal their voices.

Having attracted clients though their QQ group, the women used pornography to further entice their victims and set up the scam. Photographs of Japanese AV starlets, stewardesses, and models were used as stand-ins.

The sex ring charged clients RMB 400 for a young married woman, more for a schoolgirl, and RMB 1,000 for a model. After receiving payment up front, the women would then call their clients and ask for another RMB 2,000 as a deposit in order to ensure the safety of their workers and that the men weren’t undercover police officers.

“Most of the victims realized they had been cheated at this stage,” said a police officer, surnamed Wang.

“But when the men who had paid a deposit demanded a refund, the suspects would demand the victim spend 6,800 yuan to 8,800 yuan on a membership card.”

One victim from Henggang, Longgang District was cheated out of RMB 22,000.

After being transported to Shenzhen, the women have all confessed to their crimes and are in criminal detention.

The post Women Busted for Running Online Brothel with Imaginary Prostitutes appeared first on The Nanfang.

The Southern Metropolis Daily, a newspaper in Guangzhou, published a report Sunday that said one of its reporters had successfully infiltrated a gang that specializes in providing paid substitutes to not only take the gaokao, but ensure a passing grade.

The person named in the report as a test-taker was escorted out by police during the examination on Sunday in the Jiangxi capital of Nanchang. Another person suspected of academic fraud was arrested in Yingtan, also in Jiangxi. Meanwhile, the Jiangxi ministry of education says it will check students’ identities more rigorously before taking the gaokao.

The undercover reporter revealed that the “cheaters-for-hire” were mostly Hubei university students who were each able to earn between RMB 70,000 and RMB 100,000, with higher test results winning higher payments. One parent is to have paid one million yuan ($161,000) after the illegal gang helped garner a spot at a top Chinese university for his child.

Many of the substitute test takers were reported to be veterans of the trade.

The Ministry of Education said it has asked the public security ministry to oversee an investigation into the allegations. The ministry said cheating on the gaokao could amount to a punishable crime. The ministry also said students who hire substitutes to take the exam will be disqualified, while any paid substitutes caught taking the exam as a proxy for other students will be expelled.

But that’s not the only controversy arising from the investigative report. The other is whether going undercover as a journalist to expose the wrongdoing is ethical.

Chen Baocheng, a reporter with Caixin Media, criticized the undercover reporter’s use of another person’s identity to gain admittance to the exam. Chen said that since the undercover reporter committed the same crime as the those he was attempting to expose, he should be punished as well. “A news article is no excuse,” Chen said.

However, the Southern Metropolis Daily said it took several steps to differentiate itself from the criminal gang. Prior to the investigation, the undercover reporter informed local law enforcement of his intentions. On the test paper, the reporter revealed his identity and voided the document, the student whose identity was appropriated will not benefit from the fake gaokao attempt, and the paper reported its findings to the police, which led to at least one of the arrests. “It’s what a journalist should do,” said Xu Qingliang, former executive editor of Southern Metropolis Weekly.

That didn’t convince everyone. Wang Tianding, a professor at the journalism and communications school at Xi’an International Studies College, said the covert journalist’s eye-catching story might not be appropriate because sitting in as a replacement for others in the national exam is illegal, and therefore the reporter may have committed a crime.

However, Yi Shenghua, a Beijing-based criminal lawyer, disagreed. “Though there are discussions on whether the reporter’s behavior is appropriate or not, it’s not illegal under the law,” he said, adding that the reporter did not financially benefit from the act and had no intention of committing a crime.

All the same, authorities appear to have become more vigilant against cheating on the gaokao. Other recent developments include a ban on wearing the Apple watch during the test as well as photographs showing a security guard taking away a kitten that was discovered sneaking onto the examination hall.

The post Controversial Undercover Report Reveals China’s College Entry Examinations Rife with Fraud appeared first on The Nanfang.

China’s Interpol police has published a list of the top 100 fugitives wanted by the Chinese government as part of “Sky Net”, a recent initiative to repatriate Chinese fugitives so they can return to China and face the music. The list is on the official website of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), which admits it is only a small sample of the total number on the run. You can use the website to look up names, photographs, and possible locations where they may be living.

For example, one of the many people wanted on the list is Yuan Mei (above), a woman who was working with the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China in Sichuan before she left China in September 2002 for the USA. She’s wanted on corruption charges.

And then there’s Liu Xu, a man who was working with a Beijing insurance agency before escaping to the USA in July 2013 and is also wanted by the Chinese government for corruption.

The US State Department recently announced that it will be holding talks with its Chinese counterpart over the issue of repatriating Chinese fugitives. As well, it has been reported that Chinese police are working undercover in Canada to gather evidence against fugitives who have taken refuge in the Great White North.

The CCDI is signalling that it will act tough on these fugitives, as seen by the title of the top 100 list, “Sky Net Attacks with a Heavy Fist”. There is no word if this crackdown will involve the creation of the Chinese version of America’s Most Wanted, a long-running US television show devoted to catching fugitives and criminals by publicizing and dramatizing their stories on television that has seen many of its related arrests taking place outside US borders.

The post China’s Most Wanted: The Top 100 Fugitives That Have Escaped Abroad appeared first on The Nanfang.

Godoi was convicted for helping a number of expats get Chinese residence permits using a fake seal and copies of his trading company’s business license, tax registration certificate, and work contracts of his business partner. Godoi is said to have also helped expats create companies in Shanghai to help other expats apply for work permits. Authorities estimate Godoi made as much as RMB 50,000 in creating the fraudulent documents.

Police were unwilling to reveal the number of expats that used Godoi’s illegal service, or whether they have been charged.

Authorities were tipped off last year when they discovered the listed job position on a residence permit application was “significantly different” than the individual’s previous work experience. Under Chinese law, it is illegal for foreigners to work in jobs or positions other than the one listed on their visa application.

As reported, this is the first such case of visa fraud committed by a non-Chinese resident in China.

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