Recently, after being prosecuted by the Procuratorate of Laohekou City, Hubei Province, the court sentenced the defendants Liu and Peng to eight months' imprisonment, suspended for one year, and fined each for theft. One day in December 2024, Mr. Li, a resident of Laohekou City, encountered a troublesome situation where his grandson accidentally turned on the monthly recharge service while playing with his phone. Uncle Li quickly cancelled the operation and received a call from a self proclaimed "staff member of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission", stating that his bank card had been activated for automatic deduction, and if not cancelled, it would continue to be charged. After following the other party's request, Uncle Li discovered that the 20000 yuan in his bank card was missing and quickly called the police. In January 2025, the police locked suspect Peng and Liu according to the flow of funds, which led to a "black eat black" case. Originally, Peng and his friend Liu were working out of town and sharing a room together. In December 2024, Liu met a "Shangjia" who claimed to specialize in loan business on a social media platform, and the other party promised to provide 5% of the loan amount as an introduction fee. Coincidentally, Peng needed to repay a bank loan, and Liu disguised himself as a bank's online "customer manager" to communicate with Peng in order to earn referral fees. He then forwarded Peng's identification information, bank card number, and other details to "Shangjia". On the day of the incident, Liu followed the instructions of the "upper family" and invited Peng to the teahouse for a face-to-face meeting. Before leaving, Liu told Peng: "If it is a formal loan, it will be repaid on schedule. If the source is unknown, it will be left for his own use." He also asked Peng to authorize his Alipay account to operate on his own. Peng went to the teahouse as scheduled and met a bank "customer manager" wearing a mask (assigned by the previous employer). The other party requested their bank card password and operated mobile banking under the pretext of verification. During this period, the "customer manager" claimed that Peng's credit was insufficient and that he needed to first brush 50000 yuan of transaction "packaging" qualifications for Peng's account. Peng agreed. An hour later, the so-called "running capital" was received - it was the 20000 yuan that Uncle Li had been scammed out of. At this time, Liu, who was waiting nearby, learned that the money had arrived because he had been communicating with "Shangjia" at the same time. He immediately logged into Peng's Alipay and transferred the 20000 yuan that had just arrived. The "customer manager" in the teahouse found that the funds were missing and looked surprised and suspicious. Peng realized that the situation was not right and attempted to retrieve his phone to leave, but was stopped by the "customer manager". Peng pretended to report to the police to scare off the "customer manager" before leaving. After succeeding, Liu and Peng took out 20000 yuan and squandered it all. After being brought to justice, the two pleaded guilty, accepted punishment, and compensated for all of Uncle Li's losses. In May 2025, the Laohekou City Procuratorate prosecuted the two individuals on suspicion of theft. Recently, the court made the above judgment after trial. (New Society)