Is it considered a scam for those Feng Shui experts to sell mascots at high prices?
Not counted
Crime of Fraud (1) Object Requirements
The object of this crime is the ownership of public and private property. Although some criminal activities also use certain deceptive methods and even pursue certain illegal economic interests, the objects they infringe are not or are not limited to public and private property ownership. Therefore, it does not constitute a crime of fraud. For example: abducting and trafficking women and children is a crime of infringement of personal rights.
The crime of fraud infringes only on the property of the state, collective or individual, rather than defrauding other illegal benefits. Its objects should also exclude loans from financial institutions. Because this law has specifically stipulated the crime of loan fraud in Article 193.
(2) Objective elements
Objectively speaking, this crime is manifested as using fraudulent methods to defraud large amounts of public and private property. First of all, the perpetrator committed a fraudulent act. Formally speaking, the fraudulent act includes two categories: one is fabricating facts and the other is concealing the truth; in essence, it is an act that causes the victim to fall into a wrong understanding. The content of a fraudulent act is to create a misunderstanding in the victim under specific circumstances and make the property disposition desired by the perpetrator. Therefore, whether it is fabrication or concealment of past facts, present facts or future facts, as long as the above-mentioned facts are present, content is a form of fraud. If the fraudulent content does not enable them to make property dispositions, it is not a fraud crime. Fraudulent behavior must reach the level that ordinary people can have misunderstandings. If the goods sold are exaggerated and do not exceed the tolerance of society, it is not fraudulent behavior. There are no restrictions on the means and methods of fraudulent behavior. It can be verbal fraud or behavioral fraud; the fraudulent behavior itself can be either an act or an omission, that is, there is an obligation to inform a certain fact, but this obligation is not fulfilled. If the other party falls into a wrong understanding or continues to fall into a wrong understanding, and the perpetrator takes advantage of this understanding to mistakenly obtain property, it is also an act of fraud. According to Article 300 of this Law, anyone who organizes and uses sects, cult organizations, or uses superstition to defraud property will be punished with the crime of fraud.
Fraudulent behavior causes the other party to have a misunderstanding, and the other party's misunderstanding is caused by the perpetrator's fraudulent behavior; even if the other party makes certain errors in judgment, it does not prevent the establishment of the fraudulent act. Between the fraud and the other party's disposal of property, the other party's misunderstanding must be introduced; if the other party does not dispose of property due to the misunderstanding caused by the fraud, the crime of fraud will not be established. The other party to the fraud only needs to be a person with the authority or status to dispose of the property, and does not necessarily need to be the owner or possessor of the property. The act of an actor using civil litigation as a means to provide false statements and present false evidence to get the court to make a judgment in his favor and thereby obtain property is called litigation fraud and constitutes the crime of fraud.
The establishment of the crime of fraud requires the victim to make property dispositions after falling into a wrong understanding. Property dispositions include disposition behavior and disposition awareness. This requirement is made to distinguish the crime of fraud from the crime of theft. The disposal of property is expressed by directly delivering the property, or promising the perpetrator to obtain the property, or promising to transfer property interests. If the perpetrator commits a fraudulent act and causes others to give up their property, and the perpetrator picks up the property, he shall also be punished for the crime of fraud. However, the act of inserting a metal piece similar to a coin into a vending machine to obtain the goods in the vending machine does not constitute the crime of fraud, but can only constitute the crime of theft.
After the victim disposes of the property due to the fraud, the perpetrator obtains the property, thereby causing damage to the victim's property. According to the provisions of this article, only when the amount of defrauding public or private property is relatively large does it constitute a crime. According to relevant judicial interpretations, the amount of the crime of fraud is relatively large, with 2,000 yuan as the starting point. But this does not mean that attempted fraud does not constitute a crime. If the fraud is attempted and the circumstances are serious, he should also be convicted and punished in accordance with the law. What needs to be studied is whether the crime of fraud is established when the perpetrator uses fraudulent methods to defraud property, but at the same time pays for items of considerable value? Some people believe that the damage caused by the crime of fraud refers to the reduction of the victim's overall property, so the above behavior does not constitute the crime of fraud. Some people believe that the crime of fraud is a violation of trust and honesty and does not require property damage. We believe that the crime of fraud is a crime against individual properties, rather than a crime against the property as a whole.
The victim was defrauded and spent 30,000 yuan to buy an item worth 30,000 yuan. Although the overall property was not damaged, from the perspective of individual properties, if there was no fraud by the perpetrator, the victim would not have spent 30,000 yuan to buy the item. The last 30,000 yuan is the loss of individual property. Therefore, anyone who uses deceptive means to induce others into misunderstanding and defraud property, even if they pay for items of considerable value, should be considered a crime of fraud.
The crime of fraud is not limited to defrauding tangible objects, but also includes defrauding intangible objects and property interests. According to the relevant provisions of Article 210 of this Law, whoever uses deceptive means to defraud special value-added tax invoices or other invoices that can be used to defraud outbound tax refunds or tax deductions shall be guilty of fraud.
(3) Subject requirements
The subject of this crime is a general subject. Any natural person who has reached the legal age of criminal responsibility and has the ability to commit criminal responsibility can commit this crime.
(4) Subjective elements
The subjective aspect of this crime is direct intention and the purpose of illegally possessing public and private property.