Their days of conning vulnerable young males desperate to find a partner are over. Police in China have recently cracked a huge telecom fraud case involving a live-broadcast platform, leading to the arrest of 184 people on suspicion of coercion.
他们欺骗渴望寻找伴侣的脆弱年轻男性的日子已经结束了。近日，中国警方破获一起涉及直播平台的特大电信诈骗案，以涉嫌胁迫罪抓获184人。
The case has its origins in two smaller, but similar apprehensions, made in the summer of last year. Those and the bust achieved recently all occurred in Changsha County of Changsha City in Hunan Province.
该案源于去年夏天发生的两起规模较小但类似的逮捕事件。这些以及最近实现的半身像都发生在湖南省长沙市长沙县。
In June 2020, Changsha County Public Security Bureau found a criminal den suspected of using a live-broadcast platform to implement telecom fraud. In the early morning of 30 July, Changsha County police were able to close the noose on the case and arrest 30 people.
2020年6月，长沙县公安局查获一涉嫌利用直播平台实施电信诈骗的犯罪窝点。 7月30日凌晨，长沙县警方成功结案，抓获犯罪嫌疑人30人。
Likewise, on 15 October last year, the County Police came down on another telecommunication fraud gang and arrested 91 people involved in the case, reports Phoenix New Media.
据凤凰新媒体报道，去年10月15日，该县警方打掉了另一个电信诈骗团伙，抓获涉案人员91人。
In the process of handling the two cases, police found they had obtained a key clue. Many similar fraud dens had emerged in the Changsha area, and a large live-broadcast platform fraud group surfaced. The group was found to be well organised, with clear divisions between corporate, HR and operations.
在处理这两起案件的过程中，警方发现他们获得了一条关键线索。长沙地区出现不少类似的诈骗窝点，一个大型直播平台诈骗团伙浮出水面。该团队组织良好，公司、人力资源和运营部门之间划分明确。
For the victims, it all starts innocently enough. Or almost. The platforms’ customers are mostly young males looking for love. In the first instance, they have been persuaded to part with a little cash for online chats with those purporting to be able to assist them in their quest.
对于受害者来说，这一切都是无辜开始的。或者说几乎。该平台的客户大多是寻找爱情的年轻男性。首先，他们被说服付出一点现金，与那些声称能够帮助他们完成任务的人进行在线聊天。
As well as the prerequisite pretty female anchor, in many cases a male host also appears in efforts to establish greater credibility.
除了漂亮女主播的必备条件外，很多时候男主播也会出现，以建立更大的可信度。
Police discovered that the back end of the online platform is divided into platform management, broadcast anchor and a so called “chat hand” (聊手). After the pretty anchor has gained the target’s trust, the chat hand talks with them, pretending to be the anchor.
警方发现，该网络平台后端分为平台管理、主播和所谓的“聊天手”。当漂亮主播获得目标信任后，聊天手会冒充主播与目标对话。
Ultimately, the chat hand was able to deceive victims into believing that they might be able to meet the female anchor in person. In many cases, this was sufficient for the victims to fork out more money for a continued subscription.
最终，聊天手欺骗受害者，让他们相信自己可能能够见到女主播本人。在许多情况下，这足以让受害者支付更多的钱来继续订阅。
On the evening of 11 January this year, with sufficient evidence to mount the sting, Changsha County Police dispatched more than 400 officers. In all, they arrested 184 people across six dens in Changsha County and in Yuelu, Tianxin and Yuhua districts of Changsha City. At time of writing, the County Police had taken criminal coercive measures against 132 people.
今年1月11日晚，长沙县警方在证据充足的情况下，出动400余名警力实施诱捕。他们在长沙县和长沙市岳麓区、天心区、雨花区共抓获6个窝点184人。截至发稿，县警方已对132人采取刑事强制措施。
The live-broadcast platform is just one scam of many in China seeking to take advantage of the country’s imbalanced gender ratio. The long-held preference for baby boys means that there are many more young Chinese men than women. According to Statista, in the prime, marrying-age group of 20-24 years old, there were 114.61 men for every 100 women in 2019.
该直播平台只是中国许多人试图利用该国性别比例失衡的骗局之一。长期以来对男婴的偏爱意味着中国年轻男性的数量远多于女性。根据 Statista 的数据，2019 年，在 20-24 岁的最佳结婚年龄组中，每 100 名女性就有 114.61 名男性。
The problem is also not going away any time soon. In the younger age groups, the imbalance is even more pronounced; there are now almost 20 percent more boys than girls in the 10-14 age group.
这个问题也不会很快消失。在较年轻的年龄组中，这种不平衡现象更为明显。目前，10-14 岁年龄段的男孩比女孩多了近 20%。
