Nanjing Mr. Ma sold two Rolex watches, one of which earned him 200,000 yuan in watch sales income, was forcibly frozen by the Zhenjiang Danyang police. This news hit the top trending search on Baidu on October 25th and sparked discussions among netizens.
According to the Modern Express on October 24th, Mr. Ma revealed to the media on the 23rd that he sold two Rolex watches at a café near Wuchang Station in Wuhan on March 14th this year. At 2:17 pm that day, 200,000 yuan was deposited into Mr. Ma’s bank account, and he was informed that due to “payment limits,” they were trying to figure out how to make the remaining payment with another bank card. At 4:33 pm, another 256,000 yuan was wired into his account. Apart from the deposit and these two payments, the buyer still owed 40,500 yuan, citing “payment limits.” Mr. Ma said, “At the time, I felt something was odd about this deal and was ready to back out. However, half an hour later, the remaining payment was fully settled.”
Mr. Ma mentioned that as he regularly dealt with luxury goods, encountering bank card limits occasionally was not a major concern for him. On March 15th, as he was preparing to return to Nanjing from Wuhan, he discovered that his bank card had been frozen. Upon inquiry, he learned that the two deposits of 200,000 yuan and 256,000 yuan during the transaction were related to a fraud case, and the two sums had been frozen by the Danyang and Jinan police.
Mr. Ma contacted the buyer, who reassured him saying, “The funds were arranged properly, and there won’t be any issue. Our company conducts normal financial transactions daily.” They promised to have the company’s finance department verify the situation and provide an answer by the 19th of March. Subsequently, there was no further response from the buyer.
Helpless, Mr. Ma went to Danyang and Jinan separately, providing relevant materials to both police departments to prove the funds in question were legitimately obtained after selling the watches.
On July 16th, Mr. Ma’s bank account suddenly had 200,000 yuan deducted. Upon inquiry, he found out that this sum had been forcibly frozen by the Danyang police. Mr. Ma expressed, “If it involves a fraud case, we are willing to cooperate with the investigation, but they cannot just deduct the funds without my consent.” With doubts, Mr. Ma tried contacting the Danyang police multiple times but never received a satisfactory response. With regards to the 256,000 yuan related to another fraud case in this transaction, the Jinan police had the freeze term expire recently and were in the process of unfreezing the funds.
The Modern Express stated that the frozen 200,000 yuan came from a victim of a fraud case. An officer from the Danyang Public Security Bureau’s Anti-fraud Center mentioned on the afternoon of October 23rd that Mr. Ma’s card was a “Level One Card” related to the case, as the victim directly deposited the funds into his account. Mr. Ma indeed had 200,000 yuan deducted, though specific details were not disclosed.
Experts warn that citizens encountering such situations should immediately cease transferring funds, carefully check the remitter’s account information to ensure accuracy, including account name, number, and bank branch. If in doubt, they should promptly report to the public security department, while proactively informing the corresponding bank to protect the legitimate rights and interests of both parties involved in the transaction.
Following the release of this news, it has sparked discussions among nearly a thousand netizens on Baidu.
Many believe that the police should not freeze and deduct funds without notifying the individual. Some netizens stated: “The origin of the money is legitimate, what right do they have to deduct the funds without prior notice.”
One netizen, “NPC of mine and yours,” commented, “Freezing the funds is acceptable, but directly withdrawing them is a serious violation of a citizen’s property security without any notification or explanation.”
“Mr. Dandy” added, “You can force the bank to freeze my funds, but no one has the right to deduct money without my consent. If such a thing happens, would you dare to deposit money in the bank again?”
“YL Yang’s sauce” stated, “That was the money from selling the watch. The income source is completely legal. The watch was his personal property, but after exchanging it for money, it suddenly isn’t his personal property anymore? Do I need to prove that your payment for buying something from me is not illicit money?”
“Pig needle 8ff34e0” said, “This is not right. It should be called a good-faith third party. The sales activity is legitimate and reasonable. The seller has the right and obligation to check the buyer’s funds before the transaction.”
“Town, City, Peace, Li, Participate, Up 86” humorously remarked, “I quickly verified the source of the 6 yuan paid by the aunt who bought two pounds of potatoes from me, she couldn’t explain it clearly. One moment she said her son transferred it, another moment she said she grabbed a red envelope, then maybe she earned it from playing mahjong. What should I do? Should I report it to the police?”
“Green page” believed, “Freezing illicit funds is fine, but please return the watch. If the watch is traded again, will it be confiscated as illicit money?”
Some netizens questioned the way the police handled the case.
“Beloved Sister” said, “Compensating victims with more victims, what a way to handle this case.”
“Miniapprhi94tkfgxo99” expressed, “The level and ability to combat fraud cases should be enhanced, and they should not always just freeze accounts afterward.”