Chapter 98 - Chapter 98: Chapter 97: How about we take down a fraud ring? (Please subscribe) (2/2)
“Have you ever heard of travel fraud?” Lin Chuan asked.
Both of them shook their heads.
Lin Chuan explained, “This kind of fraud is hard to guard against. She uses her beauty to strike up conversations with single people, suggesting they travel together as if by chance, but in reality, it’s a scam.”
“Like bar scams or food scams?” Shen Qianqian asked.
Lin Chuan nodded. “If she were enticing them to spend money, that would just be a monetary issue, but if she had ulterior motives, then it’s not just about the money.”
In the ‘Professional Scams’ skill, Lin Chuan knew how to trick people into the factory area.
Encounters like this during travel could be external operatives for the factory area, specifically targeting and deceiving people into going there.
So, Lin Chuan was extra careful.
Surely he wouldn’t end up in the factory area and become big and strong there, right?
That was too dreadful to contemplate!
“I’m a criminal police officer, and even I don’t know as much as you do,” Shen Qianqian said with a smile and a light scolding.
Lin Chuan laughed, “I’m a writer, I do a lot of research. It’s only reasonable that I know a little bit about fraud, isn’t it?”
“Next time I’ll lock you in a dark room and interrogate you thoroughly to see how many secrets you still have.”
The two police beauties laughed, their smiles as bright as blooming flowers.
…
Modu.
A soft light filtered through the linen curtains, spilling onto the white floor tiles of the room where Youyou, wearing a pink chiffon nightgown and barefoot, stepped into the sunlight and brought over a bowl of nourishing porridge to the computer desk.
Youyou had no travel plans for the May Day holiday.
‘Asking Lin Chuan if he was in Anling and then coincidentally passing by Anling’ was the strategy given to her by the editor-in-chief Ming Yue, flexible for any situation.
Hence, she stayed in her room, deliberating over this anti-fraud writing competition.
After all, her top general in writing – Lin Chuan – was participating in this competition.
On the Anti-Fraud Center’s webpage, one could see the reading index rankings of all the anti-fraud writing submissions.
The reading index was a composite of user clicks, reading duration, and levels of engagement, among other data.
Youyou was interested in the novels category.
Currently, at the start of the preliminary round, none of the novels had high popularity values.
Those in the lead were powerhouse authors from various novel platforms who brought their own followings.
For instance, big-name authors from Sailing Novel like Tianya and Guihai, as well as the ten-thousand-order author Handon, all ranked in the top ten.
The ranking for Lin Chuan’s “All-In” wasn’t low either.
It was currently at 16th place.
However, Youyou knew that this ranking could change at any time; maintaining a high popularity value was essential to come out on top in the end.
Besides solid content, another way to sustain popularity was ‘marketing tactics.’
Youyou scooped up a spoonful of the nourishing porridge and put it into her mouth while her other hand clicked the mouse to start reading other people’s novels.
She wasn’t much familiar with fraud and anti-fraud efforts, so she could only support Lin Chuan in this way.
Of course, she and Lin Chuan were on the same team.
They would share in both glory and adversity.
That’s when her computer suddenly popped up a push notification for a fast-trending video.
[Mistakenly swept into the Mekong in youth, a body wrapped in a sack drifts past nations, Ming tells you a true autobiographical tale of being tricked into a factory area.]
Youyou’s hand holding the spoonful of porridge paused as her other hand immediately clicked to enter.
The fast-trending video opened in the PC client, showing a video.
The video’s uploader was named ‘Ming.’
In the center of the video page, a man in blue clothing sat, his face hidden.
Above the video were several eye-catching words.
‘The Years I Was Tricked into the Factory Area’
‘Novel adapted from a true story.’
‘Author: Ming.’
The video did not yet have a high number of views.
Youyou’s left hand put down the spoon, her slender fingers pressing Alt+Tab on the keyboard to switch back to the reading index ranking on the Anti-Fraud Center’s webpage.
Her right hand scrolled the mouse wheel, pulling it downward.
Indeed.
Ranked 21st, “The Years I Was Tricked into the Factory Area” by Ming.
Also a novel participating in the anti-fraud writing competition.
Youyou switched back to the fast-trending videos on her computer, wanting to see how Ming told his autobiographical story.
In the video.
Ming, in blue, sat down without showing his face, and his voice was altered.
‘I hope that everyone who sees this video will not have the same experience as me.’
‘Also, I wrote this novel to fight against fraud and to promote awareness of anti-fraud.’
‘Do not be easily swayed by those false promises of high salaries and tens of thousands a month for easy work.’
‘And definitely do not cross borders without due caution.’
‘Because you never know what will happen to you.’
‘Now, I will use my own experiences to tell you how I was deceived into going to a factory area and how I narrowly escaped death and returned to my country.’
‘…’
Despite the voice alteration, Youyou could tell that his voice was very serious and empathetic.
And within his narration, the details were very clear.
Youyou slightly furrowed her brows.
Had he genuinely been to the factory area and engaged in online fraud activities?
No, it could be a tactic to drive traffic.
His book was already part of the anti-fraud writing competition, right when it needed a publicity drive to draw attention to the novel.
This video seemed poised to go viral.
Youyou made her first judgment.
As it turned out, she was correct; in just one hour, the video garnered two hundred thousand views.
Besides, Youyou noticed another video.
About the ten-thousand-order author Handon.
‘Observer News’ release: A well-known writer from Sailing Novel, Handon, was scammed out of three million and furiously turned his personal experience into a novel, with the sole wish of a world without fraud.
Youyou’s brow furrowed once more.
Handon’s work: “A World Without Fraud.”
One video after another related to anti-fraud novels popped up on fast-trending video, making anti-fraud the hottest topic overnight.
As time went by, with the creation of discussion points and video marketing, the novels started to climb rapidly to the top rankings.
By noon, Lin Chuan’s rank had dropped from the initial 16th place to 52nd.
Youyou’s expressive eyebrows knitted together, her hands rubbing her head, thinking of how to create even more explosive, more popular content than those videos for Lin Chuan.
What if we take down a fraud gang?