Spectacular escape from Japan Aides from top manager Ghosn confess

Status: 14.06.2021 4:13 p.m.

You are said to have helped smuggle the former car manager Ghosn in a suitcase from Japan to Lebanon: Two accomplices confessed to helping people escape. The US citizens face three years in prison. Actually, the former Renault boss Carlos Ghosn was supposed to face a lawsuit in Tokyo on charges of serious embezzlement of funds, instead he managed a somewhat spectacular escape on board a private jet – in a music case. He had accomplices: two Americans, father and son, have now confessed to helping them escape. At the beginning of the trial in Tokyo, they admitted the accusations of the public prosecutor’s office: According to them, the 60-year-old Michael T. and his 28-year-old son Peter first created the escape plan and finally made it possible to escape. A third alleged helper from Lebanon is still on the run.

“Maybe there is a young woman in there”

Michael T. is a former elite US Army soldier who works in the private security services sector. According to the US prosecutor, he is said to have traveled to Japan several times and met Ghosn there at least seven times. According to Japanese media, his son Peter is said to have received 144 million yen – equivalent to just under 1.1 million euros – from the Ghosn family for the help. The accused used most of the money to prepare for the escape, including for the private jet. They denied being specifically paid for their help. The court re-elaborated the details of the escape – how Ghosn was hidden in the suitcase intended for musical equipment, holes drilled in to give the ex-manager a breath. How the three escape helpers pretended to be musicians and thus outwitted baggage control at the airport. And as one of the airport staff joked about the weight of the suitcase: “Maybe there is a young woman in there.”

Other escape helpers have already been convicted

At the end of February, a court in Istanbul had already sentenced three Turkish citizens to several years in prison for conspiracy to smuggle a migrant. Among them were the two pilots who are said to have flown the machine with Ghosn on board initially from Tokyo to Istanbul, from where he continued his flight to Lebanon. In Japan, Ghosn was actually waiting for his trial before he fled. He was arrested there in November 2018. The judiciary accuses him, among other things, of having transferred private losses to the Japanese automaker Nissan, which is allied with the French automaker Renault, and of having misappropriated company capital. Since his escape, the disgraced car manager has remained in Lebanon and is not allowed to leave the country. However, Lebanon does not expel its citizens, which is why the Japanese judiciary has no access to Ghosn. In addition to two others, he also has Lebanese citizenship. There are also investigations against Ghosn in France. Among other things, it is about the possibly illegal financing of two lavish parties at Versailles Palace.

A scam app gang in Shanghai was smashed

The Shanghai police recently successfully smashed a criminal gang that provided technical services to telecommunications network fraud gangs. This is also the most comprehensive professional production and sales fraud APP criminal gang in Shanghai in recent years. In September last year, Shanghai Changning police received a report that a citizen was defrauded of 115,000 yuan in an investment app called “New Year’s Dance”. After sorting out the information, the police locked a criminal network that used false foreign exchange trading platforms to solicit “agents” to commit fraud. After further analyzing the background data, the police found another important clue.

Tan Siwei, a policeman from the Anti-fraud Division of the Criminal Investigation Division of Shanghai Changning Public Security Bureau: We have seen a large number of 24-hour uninterrupted logins, of which one IP address is concentrated in our Shanghai city.

Through reverse tracking, the police finally locked an information technology company. After investigation, this company produced more than 50 fraudulent apps including “New Year’s Dance”, installed more than 12,000 devices, and the amount involved exceeded 100 million yuan. The police subsequently closed the net in Shanghai, Guangdong, Anhui and other places and arrested more than 110 suspects. In March of this year, 70 criminal suspects were transferred to the procuratorial organ for prosecution in accordance with the law.

Qian Jun, deputy head of the Criminal Investigation Division of Shanghai Changning Public Security Bureau: The core of all APPs is an investment trading platform. According to the needs of fraudsters, on the surface, normal market data such as foreign exchange, futures, stock market, and precious metals can be quoted separately, but in the trading link, The company was given the right to modify the data at any time by the fraud group to achieve the purpose of fraud.

Scammers use multiple social platforms to spread fraudulent apps

According to the police, at present, all kinds of fraudulent apps such as making friends, swiping orders, and shopping have become an indispensable link in the criminal chain of telecommunications network fraud. In particular, fraudulent apps such as foreign exchange transactions that can change data at will have become a support for investment and financial management. An important accomplice of fraud. Criminals will deliberately let the victim download these apps.

Police Officer Zhuang Liqiang from the Spokesperson’s Office of the Shanghai Municipal Public Security Bureau: These fraudulent apps are generally spread in forums, chat tools, and text messages through short links, QR codes, and other methods.

National Anti-Fraud Center: Over 60% of Internet frauds involve fraudulent apps from January to March

According to the National Anti-Fraud Center, from January to March, more than 220,000 telecommunications network fraud cases occurred nationwide, with losses reaching more than 18.5 billion. Among them, more than 60% of them used APP to implement fraud.

Chen Minjie, National Anti-Fraud Center: This kind of app that commits crimes is generally not available on the regular app market. The functions are relatively simple and the production is relatively rough. Judging from the current combat situation, many criminal gangs can easily package it from a website involved. An APP, the cost is very low. So when we download the APP in the future, try to download it from a regular website.

Knowing that criminal gangs use APP to commit crimes, but still provide technical support, these fake APP gangs have violated the criminal law.

Chen Minjie, National Anti-fraud Center: APP download can be downloaded and installed with just one link. In the next step, our public security organs will work with industry and internet information departments to further strengthen the rectification of APP.

Anti-fraud and anti-fraud National Anti-fraud Center APP launched

In addition, the National Anti-fraud Center APP, organized and developed by the Criminal Investigation Bureau of the Ministry of Public Security, has recently been launched nationwide, and will be further optimized in the future. After downloading and installing the APP, when receiving a call or text message from a suspicious person, or a URL contained in the suspicious text message, or installing a suspicious APP application, it can intelligently identify the scammer’s identity and warn in advance. It can also report various fraud information to the platform at any time. Greatly reduce the possibility of users being deceived.