A Female Fighter Against Economic Crimes

Wang Wei

Liang Wenting was born in Foshan， Guangdong Province， in August 1989. She is from the Zhuang ethnic group and a member of the Communist Party of China with a postgraduate degree she earned while working. She joined the police force after her college graduation in 2012， and now serves as the deputy chief of the economic crime investigation brigade of Dongxing Public Security Bureau， Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. She has been working as a grassroots officer fighting economic crimes on the frontline for a decade. With firm convictions and steely determination， Liang has regularly gone beyond her routine office work to play a key part in operations related to more than 60 cases and the arrest of over 100 criminal suspects. Her steadfast loyalty， down-to-earth attitude， well-honed skills and dauntless courage make her a spectacular fighter in the war against economic crimes. Liang has made a significant contribution to the maintenance of economic order and social stability in the frontier region.

Liang pioneered a new analytical approach named "Magic Circle Labelling”， which proved vital in cracking what was later known as the "May 30th Case of Underground Banking” in 2019. During Operation Fox Hunt， she worked with the public security authorities of Zhejiang， Guangdong， Yunnan， Fujian and Guizhou， and with Vietnamese police forces， to capture 18 wanted suspects from abroad. These personal feats have earned her many medals of merit and titles at different levels.

Creating a New Approach to Cracking Cases

As a grassroots economic crime investigator， Liang performs her duties conscientiously and always volunteers for tough tasks. She is never discouraged by the heavy workload of dealing with masses of information and figures coming from corporate cash flow statements and account books. She makes numerous field visits each year to acquaint herself with the production and operations of local enterprises and verify the validity of their business licenses and other documents. During the visits， she is always vigilant to potential violations of code， unlicensed financial transactions， and attempts to entice investments and purchase of financial products. She also keeps enterprises informed of the requirements for legal and standardized operations through publicity work. All these efforts help effectively prevent economic crimes. Moreover， she has engaged in several special campaigns to combat rampant pyramid selling crimes. In recent years， her work has helped put 33 pyramid scheme cases on file， with 32 cases cracked， 73 criminals seized， 28 jailed， and over 100 participants released after education.

The complexity of business operations spawns various types of economic crimes， posing great challenges for detection. Therefore， Liang created the new analytic approach of "Magic Circle Labelling” based on her hands-on experiences in previous investigations and  big data. The new approach breaks with conventional practice， representing a bold attempt to explore new directions for probing economic crimes. With "circle marking” as the foundation， the approach classifies corporate accounts according to different indexes and monitors large numbers of cash flow statements to set up a precise database to facilitate case judgement and detection. "Based on the indexes on each magic circle， we score every account by plotting its points onto other circles. Finally， we make a judgement depending on the chart formed by a line connecting those points. The closer the chart gets to a circle， the more accurate the judgement is，” says Liang. The analytical approach is able to screen out key accounts from huge amounts of data and boost the efficiency of identifying suspicious accounts at the earliest possible time. Through big data the system can reach a conclusion and facilitate investigation into potential economic crimes.

With this creative analytical approach， Liang has identified eight types of criminal accounts from the special-purpose database， which are involved in telecom fraud， tax dodging， and goods smuggling among other crimes. She has also detected 176 criminal accounts and 38 criminal rings， with the total money involved reaching over 20 billion RMB.

Cracking the 2019 "May 30th Case of Underground Banking” required investigators to have deep financial knowledge about topics such as cross-border trade， customs import regulations， and bank payment and settlement rules. Liang found her unfamiliarity with frontier trade policies as well as cross-border bank payment and settlement procedures hampered her investigations. To unravel the complex threads of the case， she made numerous field visits and follow-up surveys to the Dongxing Border Trade Zone run by Guangxi Beibu Gulf Investment Co.， Ltd. to learn about how border residents purchase goods， and what procedures are needed for border import， documents checking， and settlement. Through her efforts， she came up with constructive suggestions about how to garner evidence against the case. She also shared details of the case and the physical and documentary evidence she had collected with other members of the interrogation team. Together， they discerned the roles and assignments of every member of the criminal gang and their illegal acts， thus further expediting the interrogation of suspects.

This case remains the largest of its kind by monetary value ever cracked in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. The ring that had run the underground banking business in the China-Vietnam border area for many years was successfully eradicated， with seven suspects from both countries arrested. Liang made tremendous contributions to cracking the case， earning her the honor of the "Second-Class Merit for Prominent Personal Performance”.

On January 9， 2021， Dongxing Public Security Bureau received a report about a cross-border child trafficking case. Liang immediately volunteered to join the investigation and rushed to Guangdong with a task force. They arrived in time to successfully rescue the two infants trafficked into the province. "I found the babies diapers were soaked through when they were handed over to me. I changed the diapers right away， fed them with a bottle of milk and put them to sleep，” she recalled， the scenes still fresh in her mind. That night， she didnt sleep a wink as she stayed in one position， not to disturb the babies rest.  The numbness of her limbs was overwhelmingly numbed by her motherly caring.

Promoting Public Awareness for Security

"Every outreach and awareness campaign we launch comes with enriched activities in new and novel forms. The aim is to educate the public about how criminals use aggressive pitches， take advantage of kinship ties， and make extravagant promises of lavish rewards and highly profitable projects，” says Liang.

Well versed in publicity， Liang is enthusiastic about launching public awareness campaigns every year to guard and fight against economic crimes. The campaigns focus on illegal activities that concern the public， including sales fraud， illegal fund raising， contract trapping， and pyramid schemes. During the campaigns， various tricks used to commit economic crimes are explained in simple language and from multiple perspectives. Through case studies， the public gain more knowledge of what could constitute illegal activity. These efforts help the public take precautions and effectively safeguard their property from being damaged.

To guide youngsters to develop a sense of patriotism and morality， Liang vigorously echoes the call of the Dongxing Youth League Committee to launch legal and patriotic education activities and create a good school environment where students are eager to learn about the law and legality. "We always explore how we can make teens aware of the types of crimes that occur in our daily lives and about legal knowledge in ways they enjoy，” says Liang. As the youth are the key driving force of social advancement， strong legal awareness campaigns should be launched in campuses to yield fruitful results， she adds.

Years of assiduous study and investigations have equipped Liang with an abundance of first-hand experiences in analyzing cases and detecting clues. Leveraging her familiarity with the characteristics of economic crimes and her rich knowledge of the law， she also delivers lectures to non-local public security bodies， commercial banks， and other institutions. In this way， she shares her established expertise in cracking economic crimes with as many people as possible from all backgrounds to guarantee the people a safe and peaceful life.

（About the author：Wang Wei， Fangchenggang Public Security Bureau）

（Translated by Zhang Yanzhou）