CNBC AI News, August 1st — When ingenuity takes a detour into illegality, handcuffs are sure to follow.
In a case recently highlighted by CCTV’s “Society and Law,” a major beer company fell victim to a brazen theft. The target wasn’t beer from a warehouse, but rather 6.5 million yuan (approximately $900,000 USD) earmarked for promotional prize money.
The crime was reported by a technology firm contracted to manage the beer company’s marketing campaigns, specifically generating prize-winning QR codes and disbursing rewards to lucky consumers.
Alarm bells rang when the beer giant noticed a significant anomaly in its marketing account. The funds specifically designated for prize payouts were being depleted at an unexpectedly rapid rate.
The tech company’s management filed a police report, and shortly thereafter, a suspect identified as Li voluntarily surrendered to authorities and confessed to his crimes.
According to the investigation, Li, leveraging his access as the account manager responsible for generating prize-winning QR codes, secretly modified the system to create bogus winning codes. He scanned these codes himself, claiming the rewards. His scheme even involved enlisting the help of friends and family, who would redeem the codes and then transfer the ill-gotten gains back to Li.
This went on for over a year. The scheme unraveled when the beer company’s accounting department noticed an unusually high payout rate on its prize pool. An audit revealed that a staggering 6.5 million yuan had vanished, the bulk of which Li allegedly squandered on daily expenses and online gaming.
Legally, Li’s actions, which involved unauthorized alteration of QR code data, constituted an abuse of his position to illegally acquire company property. This met the legal definition of embezzlement under Article 271 of China’s Criminal Law.
In February, the Tongzhou District People’s Court in Beijing delivered its verdict. The defendant, Li, was found guilty of embezzlement and sentenced to six years in prison, along with a fine of 100,000 yuan (approximately $14,000 USD).
Original article, Author: Tobias. If you wish to reprint this article, please indicate the source:https://aicnbc.com/6108.html
