If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes and heard it with his own ears, he would never have dared to believe that the person who had just spoken was actually Qin Mu. That voice was identical to his. He was certain that even his own family couldn't tell the difference.
At this point, he had almost finished investigating the ins and outs of the matter. It began with Zhang Qingyuan receiving a fraudulent call and nearly becoming a victim. Luckily, at the critical moment, Qin Mu stepped in and imitated Zhang Qingyuan's voice. In turn, he scared the con artist, Shen Fei, by bluffing, staging an entire scenario, and portraying Zhang Qingyuan as a lawless rogue, a veritable crime lord.
In the end, through a series of coincidences, Shen Fei was likely scared out of his wits. He mistakenly believed that "Zhang Qingyuan" had actually sent people to kill him and even ran to the police station to surrender.
"The events of this case are just too convoluted and bizarre..." Zhou Qin remarked with a wry smile, his expression somewhat complex. In thirty years of handling cases, he had never encountered such a strange one. And Qin Mu was the most outrageous of all the young people he had ever met. Others, upon realizing it was a scam call, would at most expose the scammer. But Qin Mu went ahead and directed an entire play, frightening the other party into developing psychological issues.
"The ancients said there were people in the capital skilled in ventriloquism, able to mimic the sounds of all things in nature. I always thought it was an exaggeration, but today my eyes have truly been opened," Zhou Qin remarked as he looked towards Qin Mu, unable to suppress his exclamation.
Qin Mu: "..."
"Right, the fraudster Shen Fei has been arrested, and we've clarified the course of events. We will soon issue a notice to various sectors of society, publicizing this case," Zhou Qin continued in a serious tone. "It might involve some of your personal privacy, and we need your authorization for that."
After all, this incident, in general, had little to do with them. The biggest contributor was still Qin Mu.
Qin Mu was slightly taken aback. Then he nodded and said, "Okay, I have just one question. After this scammer is arrested, how long will it take to sentence him? And for how long could he be sentenced?"
Having been reborn, he loathed these scammers to the core. They preferred leisure over labor, avoided legitimate work, and specifically targeted others' trust and psychological vulnerabilities to profit without effort, causing countless people to lose their life savings and end up deep in debt. Some say if you don't have money, you're not afraid of being scammed. But true scammers will also pretend to be members of financial institutions, enticing victims to take out loans from legitimate establishments. Then they swindle all the loaned funds. By the time the victims realize what has happened, it's already too late. They can only bear the burden and silently repay the bank loans. Events like this have happened to his friends no less than three times. The government-promoted anti-fraud apps also illustrate how rampant scams are in current society.
"Now that Shen Fei is arrested with solid evidence, next we will apply for a search warrant to investigate and gather evidence in the area where he lived, to complete the evidence chain.
"The prosecution will then initiate legal proceedings, which are expected to take around two months.
"As for the length of the sentence, it will depend on the amount of money he defrauded. Generally, if it's less than a million, the maximum is ten years," Zhou Qin earnestly answered Qin Mu's questions.
Shen Fei was acting alone, so he guessed the amount wasn't that terrifyingly large.
After hearing this, Qin Mu frowned slightly, feeling somewhat dissatisfied. He couldn't help but complain, "Sentenced two months later, and to a maximum of only ten years? If I had known... I would have insisted on lending him more money to transfer."
Zhou Qin's forehead involuntarily creased into a few lines. This Shen Fei, running into Qin Mu... he must have had terrible luck for eight lifetimes.
"Ahem, we will collect evidence and prepare to prosecute as quickly as possible. The law will never let any scumbag get away with this!" Zhou Qin said, chuckling dryly a few times.
Afterward, the two parties briefly discussed the details of the case. Zhou Qin and his team took their notes and then left the nursing home to begin preparing for the subsequent prosecution process.
「The next day.」
While caring for the elderly in the nursing home, Qin Mu received a text message from Zhou Qin. The message informed him that the chain of evidence was ready. In no more than seven days, Shen Fei would receive the verdict, undergo a public trial, and be sanctioned by the law.
Sending someone to jail... it really feels... exhilarating.
Upon receiving this news, Qin Mu felt extremely uplifted. These selfish fraudsters, every last one of them, should be sent to jail! His only regret was that he hadn't prepared in advance this time; otherwise, he would have taken out a loan for a million to ensure Shen Fei spent a few more years behind bars. After all, as long as you act quickly and the person is caught, the money wouldn't be lost. This time, I was too rash and didn't think it through. Next time, I'll aim for fifteen years.
Humming a tune, Qin Mu started browsing on his phone.
It wasn't long before he saw a video posted by the official account of a Yangcheng police station that had suddenly gone viral. Its view count, likes, and comments were all skyrocketing. He was also tagged in this video.
Upon clicking on it, the video's backdrop was unmistakably inside a police station, with Zhou Qin and Wang Qian standing on either side of Shen Fei, facing the camera.
"Hello, everyone. Today, we cracked a telecommunications fraud case.
"However, to be more precise, this case is very peculiar and complicated. The arrest of the suspect once again proves that 'the net of Heaven has large meshes, but it lets nothing through!'
"The story begins when the suspect called an elderly person in a nursing home, pretending to be a member of a special investigation team and attempting to commit fraud..."
In the video, Zhou Qin narrated the events calmly and without exaggeration, detailing the entire course of the incident point by point.
"The suspect was very skilled at gauging human psychology and quickly broke through the psychological defenses of this elderly Mr. Zhang.
"Just as he was about to gather money to transfer to the designated bank account, someone with him realized it was a scam.
"However, what this person did differently from others is that he did not hang up the call; instead, he turned the tables and gave the scammer a fright.
"Here is the audio from that call..."
The video then played an audio clip.
In the audio:
"I didn't expect you to find out."
"Alright, I'll lay my cards on the table. No more pretending!"
"I'm not that useless person you arrested. Even if I kill someone, you won't be able to catch me! Even if you do catch me, it won't constitute a crime!"
"Clean up the bloodstains, put the body in a barrel, fill it with cement, and sink it in the sea."
Zhang Qingyuan's aged voice sounded cold and emotionless, chilling to the listeners. An image of a lawless desperado leaped vividly into their minds.
At the end of the video, Zhou Qin stepped forward again and said, "After being intimidated, the suspect's psychological defenses completely collapsed, and he developed a persecution complex.
"He came to the police station at four in the morning the following day to report what he believed was happening, which led to his successful arrest.
"Here's a friendly reminder to everyone: be vigilant of unknown calls, never believe any information regarding transfers of any kind, improve your awareness to prevent deceit, and avoid being scammed."
With that, the video ended.
And Qin Mu discovered that in the time he had been watching the video, the view and like counts had doubled. Meanwhile, the number of concurrent viewers had reached as high as 78,000.