National Forensic Doctor
Chapter 391 - 391 358 Volunteering

391: Chapter 358 Volunteering 391: Chapter 358 Volunteering The first to be apprehended was the Zhang Jing family of four, who were out on vacation.

As a low-level employee, Zhang Jing heard from some channel that he could buy counterfeit 20-RMB notes that were virtually indistinguishable from real ones, at just a fraction of their value, and the thought haunted him.

When his boss happened to go out of business, he decided to take his wife, mother, and mother-in-law on a trip.

Zhang Jing owned a small car suited for getting around, which wouldn’t sell for much, but it was perfectly fine for a road trip.

In fact, for many years, he and his wife always planned to travel, trying to do the things seen in various short videos, but they never managed to make it happen.

The main obstacle was, naturally, money.

Zhang Jing’s monthly income was only three to four thousand yuan, and his wife often quit jobs after a short period, getting fired by her employers was a common occurrence, but bringing money home was rare.

The clash between dire financial straits and dreams was quickly resolved after getting the counterfeit money.

Zhang Jing didn’t think there was anything wrong with using counterfeit money.

He had received fake bills himself in the past, and of course, he couldn’t possibly deposit them into a bank, so he always found some inconspicuous place to spend them.

Having obtained a large amount of counterfeit money, Zhang Jing thought he could handle it with the same approach.

However, with the low denomination of 20 yuan and a road trip ahead, he simply brought along his mother and mother-in-law.

Both elderly ladies were seasoned marketgoers, never allowing themselves to be shortchanged and having some experience with counterfeit money themselves.

They saw no psychological barrier in using counterfeit notes; on the contrary, they found the prospect of traveling for free and getting discounts on food and drink very appealing.

Similarly, Zhang Jing’s wife did not express any objections; overall, this was a family with a very weak grasp of legal knowledge.

To many it might seem incredible, but in vast China, there are many such families, including those who would buy children and wives from traffickers.

They might have some respect for the law, but certainly not much.

Within just two days, Liu Jinghui had identified 12 families similar to Zhang Jing’s and had them all arrested and brought to justice.

The entire Ningtai County Bureau mobilized to transport the suspects back, which involved considerable coordination by Liu Jinghui.

In total, there were 33 suspects, none of whom were professional criminals, and not even one had a criminal record.

Of course, if any of them had been reformed by the teachings of “The Great Learning” in prison, they certainly wouldn’t have committed such foolish crimes.

However, arresting these minor henchmen was not the goal of Jiang Yuan’s Accumulated Case Team.

After actively participating in the interrogations for a day, Liu Jinghui began to list more targets on a whiteboard:

“All the counterfeit notes were obtained through courier packages, with the sending location being Chiyong City…

We could trace these packages, but Chiyong is quite large…”

“Most of these people were connected through social media, particularly through stranger-meeting apps.

For this aspect…

I’ll contact the cyber police…”

“Money…

Although the money these people paid is probably laundered by now, we still need to investigate…”

Once Liu Jinghui had summarized some key points, his frown became even more pronounced.

Aside from the first point, where following the delivery packages and then checking surveillance might yield some results, the other two points involving the use of the internet for crimes almost nullified his deductive skills.

This is why the incidence of telecommunications fraud was exploding, to the point that it accounted for more than half of all cases.

When the police started using high-tech methods, real-world criminals had a hard time; but when criminals also began using high-tech, the police had a hard time too.

It was as if both sides were fighting through a net made by programmers, making sharp teeth and claws obsolete.

“I’ll go to Chiyong City,” Wang Chuanxing felt that this clue was still within his control.

It was simply a matter of following the trail of the courier slips, questioning the delivery and receiving staff, and then finding the right surveillance footage to pinpoint the suspects.

It was basically the simplest detective work, suitable for law enforcement participants of all ages and all intelligence levels, including officials and leaders.

And this method of investigation, utterly devoid of any aesthetic, was precisely the source of Liu Jinghui’s displeasure.

Yet this case was filled with such brute-force tactics.

“Chiyong is quite far away, so it’s good if you’re willing to go on a business trip,” Liu Jinghui also wanted to solve the case, but at his age, having solved so many cases, just solving a case had truly lost all of its thrill.

Even work needs a touch of beauty to adorn it.

Unfortunately, this case was ugly as hell.

Liu Jinghui shook his head at the case.

Wang Chuanxing was still young and couldn’t understand Liu Jinghui’s pursuit, even willing to bear with such an ugly method to solve the case…

“Take a few more people to Chiyong.

Once there, search the local printing shops and those companies that do advertising and inkjet printing.

In any case, the counterfeiter must first be skilled in graphic design software, and secondly, should have a certain amount of operational experience,” Jiang Yuan had also been immersed in this case for the past few days.

Although he hadn’t come up with a decisive conclusion, the information he provided now had significantly narrowed down the search.

Liu Jinghui couldn’t help asking, “Did you notice something?”

Jiang Yuandao replied, “Analyzing from the counterfeit money, the counterfeiter used printing.

The printer is an Epson R330 printer, with a bronzing machine, a paper cutter, it requires a certain amount of space, professional skills, and professional paper and ink…”

He was skilled with a Document Inspection Level 3.

He hadn’t had much of a chance to showcase this before, but now that he was examining the production method and such, it was fairly easy.

Liu Jinghui, having worked on fewer cases involving economic investigations, scratched his head and asked, “Aren’t printers unable to print currency?”

“There are supposed to be thresholds like that in the program, but several of Epson’s series have been cracked,” Jiang Yuan informed him.

“Cracked?” Liu Jinghui echoed with surprise.

“Yeah, including the digital version of the 20 yuan note, it’s all over the dark web.

Buy a counterfeit money template and get the whole counterfeit process included.

It doesn’t cost more than a few banknotes, it’s just that not many dare to actually follow through with it.”

Liu Jinghui was astonished, “These counterfeit money templates you’re talking about, it seems like the reason why protagonists in old cop movies are often chased all over the world…”

“Pretty much,” Jiang Yuan assented.

“The black market really does have everything,” Liu Jinghui remarked without much emotion.

In China, regulations were very strict.

Abroad, not to mention that the dark web has people trading in humans, arms, and drugs, just the counterfeit money alone is sold openly, and semi-finished products and raw materials are definitely available too.

Quickly accepting the premise provided by Jiang Yuan, Liu Jinghui reasoned, “The counterfeiter has certain technical skills, but probably isn’t very strong, likely to be relatively young, and impulsive.

Additionally, they need to have separate rooms and factories to place machinery, raw materials, especially the finished counterfeit notes…”

After a brief analysis, Liu Jinghui went on, “Jiang Yuan’s focus on printing shops is indeed worth considering.

Furthermore, following Jiang Yuan’s mention of Epson printers, the number of units and individuals who have these printers shouldn’t be that many…”

Wang Chuanxing listened and dutifully took notes; these were things he would have to investigate and check when he travelled to the area.

Liu Jinghui advised like a father, then turned to Jiang Yuan and said, “Actually, if there’s no rush, using an undercover could work.

For young people like Wang Chuanxing, who understand the internet, making contact and then spending a year or half undercover could possibly reveal the entire network behind them.”

Wang Chuanxing shivered at the thought, hastily saying, “Director Liu, I’ll investigate thoroughly in Chiyong, there’s no need for me to go undercover…”

“The criminal you are currently tracking, if they indeed bought the digital template, would mean there are others behind them, making it difficult to continue catching them,” Liu Jinghui expressed regretfully.

“No, no, I’ll do everything I can to squeeze them out…” Wang Chuanxing’s back was already soaked with sweat.

Volunteering eagerly indeed had its risks.

Looking around the conference room, Jiang Yuan’s Accumulated Case Team already had 21 members; indeed, the team was of a size that could afford to send one or two people to go undercover…