BEIJING: The Supreme People’s Procuratorate has warned senior citizens to remain vigilant about illegal fundraising activities within the elderly care sector. There were 1,932 people prosecuted for such crimes last year, with an additional 343 prosecuted in the first half of this year.
Illegal fundraising through investments in elderly care has become a key focus of a nationwide operation to combat fraud targeting the elderly. The initiative was launched in April 2022 by 12 central departments, including the top procuratorate. At a meeting in September 2022, the national office for combating fraud related to elderly care mandated that all departments maintain a strict and rigorous approach toward eldercare fraud.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, the top procuratorate highlighted that some unscrupulous individuals lure the elderly into investments supposedly linked to concepts such as blockchain, equity investments, private equity, and prominent national strategies like the Belt and Road Initiative and rural revitalization. It said some perpetrators use services like tourism, health preservation and domestic services as bait, and often tailor the models to target different types of elderly people. The statement also emphasized the risks associated with deceiving seniors into using personal property as collateral.
Perpetrators frequently target the retirement needs of the elderly by presenting high-risk financial products as secure and profitable investment opportunities. –The Daily Mail-China Daily news exchange item
