After buying counterfeit money many times online, Fan Mobin, a Sichuan man, decided to go to Renshou County, Sichuan Province to learn how to make counterfeit money himself because he was dissatisfied with the quality of counterfeit money. From October to December 1, 2017, he and his associates Ma and Duan made an average of more than 1,000 counterfeit coins every day, with a total denomination of 374,090 yuan. In the process of making counterfeit money, some people even used fake videos to threaten their associates not to quit.
Recently, China Judgment Document Network published the final ruling of this counterfeit currency case. Yan ‘an Intermediate People’s Court sentenced five people, including Fan Mobin, Duan Mou and Zheng Mou, to suspended sentences ranging from 11 and a half years’ imprisonment for the crime of counterfeiting currency, and many others were dealt with separately.
Buy a template and steal a printer. If you are dissatisfied with the quality of counterfeit money, you decide to "make it yourself"
According to the ruling, Fan Mobin bought counterfeit money three times through online social tools since March 2017, and each time he bought 50 counterfeit money with 20 yuan face value, totaling 150. In May, 2017, he increased the purchase amount and bought 1,000 counterfeit coins with 20 yuan face value at one time. In the end of the same month, after Fan Mobin and Ma (handled separately) met, they met and went to Renshou County, Sichuan Province to study counterfeit money making.
Since then, Fan Mobin, Ma Mou, Zhang Mou, He Mou and Wu Mou (all handled separately) have purchased materials and articles for making counterfeit money, and made counterfeit money with denominations of 10 yuan, 20 yuan, 50 yuan and 100 yuan in a rented house in xingqing district, Yinchuan City from October to November 11, 2017, making 500 to 2,000 pieces every day.
On December 1, 2017, Fan Mobin was arrested by the police, and the police seized a large number of counterfeit money and counterfeiting tools in his residence.
According to Fan Mobin’s account after arriving at the case, he bought counterfeit money through social platforms in March 2017, and he burned the counterfeit money because of the very poor quality. It was also in March that Fan Mobin came up with the idea of making counterfeit money himself. Since then, he has bought 150 counterfeit coins of 20 yuan denomination from a counterfeit dealer named "King" on WeChat three times.
In May, 2017, Fan Mobin bought 1,000 counterfeit coins with the denomination of 20 yuan at the price from 1.5 yuan to 1.8 yuan. He tried to reprocess these counterfeit coins to make them more authentic, and then sold them at the price from 2.5 yuan to 2.8 yuan. It was also in this process of processing and selling that he got to know Duan and Ma, accomplices who made counterfeit money in the future.
According to Fan Mobin, in late May 2017, after he met Ma, they went to a local person named Qianjun Publishing in Renshou, Sichuan Province to learn how to make counterfeit money. Ma invested to buy 5 printers and 20,000 sheets of paper. After they bought the electronic version of counterfeit money in the hands of a criminal named "Old Eight Concave Mould" through Qianjun Publishing, they officially "started".
In the process of making counterfeit money afterwards, Fan Mobin was mainly responsible for sending express delivery. However, because of the poor effect of counterfeit money, they initially cooperated with others to make counterfeit money in Chongqing. Until October 2017, after stealing the printers and other equipment of "partners" in Chongqing, they came to Yinchuan to rent a rental house and officially opened their own road to counterfeiting.
300 counterfeit coins are printed, and the process is complicated, such as watermarking and braille.
After Fan Mobin and Ma Mou came to Yinchuan, Zhang and He Mou also joined the gang. After He Mou paid for two more printers, they added two more computers. Wu Mou was responsible for typesetting and edition adjustment, Fan Mobin and Ma Mou were responsible for contacting ink and paper, and others were responsible for contacting customers and delivering goods. Fan Mobin said that during this period, he didn’t remember how many goods were sent out, but he made about 1,000 counterfeit coins every day.
In fact, the whole counterfeit currency manufacturing process is far more complicated than what Fan Mobin said. After the counterfeit money is made, the channel problem of "taking goods" is also a big problem.
According to Ma’s confession after the case, when chatting online, he inadvertently saw an advertisement in the group chat, claiming that there were counterfeit money for sale. Through this advertisement, Ma added many counterfeit money groups and got to know Zhang and He, who introduced that they had "sold goods" (made counterfeit money) in the south, but many people were arrested by the police. They were afraid to continue their activities in the south, so they decided to move to the north.
Ma has technology, and Zhang and He have channels. After some communication, several people hit it off. After that, they agreed that He would go to Yinchuan first to see if production could be carried out, and then Fan Mobin would take the technicians to Yinchuan for trial production. If it went well, He would contribute to the purchase of computers and printers, Ma would provide the venue, and others would be responsible for coordinating the purchase of raw materials and delivery.
Since October 2017, Fan Mobin, Ma Mou, He Mou and others have successively manufactured counterfeit money with a total denomination of several hundred thousand yuan. On November 11, 2017, due to an argument between Fan Mobin and Ma, Ma proposed "withdrawal of shares" the next day. Fan Mobin was worried about Ma’s alarm, so he contacted Duan to remove the printer and other equipment and checked it to Chengdu the next day.
Fan Mobin said that he and his nephew, Duan Mou, Wu Mou and others rented a house in Xinfan Town to continue to produce counterfeit money, but they were quickly arrested by the police. According to the ruling of the second instance of the case, on December 1, 2017, when Fan Mobin was arrested by the police, the police seized a total of 7,439 counterfeit coins with a total denomination of 166,180 yuan. In addition, the police of Yinchuan Public Security Bureau seized 4,411 banknotes with a total denomination of 131,410 yuan from the returned parcels sent by Ma, Wu Mou and He to Yunnan. These banknotes were all counterfeit after identification.
In February, 370,000 counterfeit coins were manufactured, and the principal offender was sentenced to 11 and a half years.
On August 10, 2020, the Zhidan County Court in Yan ‘an made a first-instance judgment on this counterfeit currency case. The court held that Fan Mobin and others illegally manufactured counterfeit money by copying and other methods, posing as real currency, totaling 15,580 pieces with a total denomination of 374,090 yuan, which constituted a crime of counterfeiting currency, and the amount was extremely huge. Fan Mobin plays a major role in forging currency together with others, and is the principal offender, so he should be punished according to all the crimes he participated in. Fan Mobin sells the forged currency and should be severely punished according to law.
According to this, the court sentenced Fan Mobin to 11 years and 6 months in prison and fined 100,000 yuan for the crime of counterfeiting currency. It is worth noting that during the trial of the case, the court found out that in the process of making counterfeit money by Fan Mobin, Duan and others, their gang members Zhao and Gong had offered to quit, but the threat of recording fake videos by Duan was unsuccessful. Duan and others were sentenced by the court to suspended sentences ranging from eight years in prison and fined.
After the verdict was pronounced in the first instance, Fan Mobin and Duan Mou appealed. Fan Mobin believed that he and Ma Mou and others made profits by manufacturing and selling counterfeit money, but he only sold it and should be an accomplice. After returning to the case, he pleaded guilty and repented, requesting the court to lighten or mitigate the punishment.
Yan’ an Intermediate People’s Court held through trial that Fan Mobin and others illegally made counterfeit money and pretended to be real money, and the amount was extremely huge, and his behavior constituted the crime of counterfeiting money; Duan Mou, Zheng Mou, Zhao Mou and Gong Mou, after buying counterfeit money, used methods such as making old money, making watermarks, and increasing the sense of unevenness to make it usable. All four of them constituted the crime of counterfeiting money.
Regarding Fan Mobin’s appeal that he should be an accessory in a joint crime, Yan ‘an Intermediate People’s Court held that Fan Mobin and Ma learned the technology of counterfeiting money, actively purchased real materials, contacted customers and sent express delivery, which played a major role in the joint crime, and his reasons for appeal and defense opinions could not be established. The court of first instance has made appropriate sentencing according to Fan Mobin’s criminal facts, circumstances, confession and repentance.
Based on this, Yan ‘an Intermediate People’s Court held that the facts of the original judgment were clear, the evidence was sufficient and the sentence was appropriate. On December 22, 2020, it ruled that the appeal was dismissed and the original judgment was upheld.