An attempt by a man to fraudulently claim court funds by digitally altering a photo of his current wife to resemble his ex-wife has been thwarted, resulting in legal consequences.
Recently, a court in Changsha, Hunan province, handled a bizarre case of obstruction of justice. A man tried to collect execution proceeds by submitting forged authorization documents, using a crudely photoshopped image of his current wife to impersonate his former spouse. The poor quality of the digital alteration was immediately spotted by court staff.
The man, surnamed Li, was subsequently detained by judicial authorities for five days.
The Motivation: A Scheme to Pocket the Proceeds
This case originated from a financial loan contract dispute between a bank and two individuals, Ge and Li. The court had auctioned a mortgaged property under Ge's name. After settling the debt, over 600,000 yuan in remaining auction proceeds were legally due to be returned to both Ge and Li, who were formerly married.
According to legal stipulations, the remaining funds are jointly owned, requiring both parties to be present to complete the collection procedure or to provide genuine and effective power of attorney for a representative to collect on their behalf.
Li sought to claim the entire sum for himself. Upon arriving alone to collect the money and learning of the requirement, he devised a deceitful plan.
The Failed Attempt: A Blatantly Obvious Forgery
After failing to obtain authorization from his ex-wife, who had blocked all communication, Li resorted to forgery. He digitally altered a photo of his current wife to look like his ex-wife. He then fabricated a copy of his ex-wife's ID card, a power of attorney, and a photo of the "ex-wife" holding her ID and the document, which he submitted to the court, falsely claiming full authorization.
The meticulously forged materials, however, contained glaringly obvious signs of manipulation, which were instantly recognized by the presiding judge. Ironically, Li's current wife was completely unaware that her photo had been used in this scheme.
Unraveling the Lies
After identifying discrepancies, the judge made several attempts to contact the rightful claimant, Ge (Li's ex-wife), to verify the authorization's authenticity, but was unsuccessful. Li falsely claimed his ex-wife was away long-term and unavailable for verification, providing the court with purported new contact details and a WeChat account.
Following a phone confirmation with "Ge," the judge attempted a video call for further identity verification, but the other party consistently refused, only replying via text message to consent to Li handling the procedure. During the investigation, Li repeatedly pressured the court to expedite the payment, even resorting to malicious complaints and intimidation.
The presiding judge remained steadfast. Ultimately, the court managed to contact Ge directly using original case delivery information. Upon verification, Ge confirmed she had no knowledge of Li's claim application and did not consent to him receiving all the funds.
Confronted with irrefutable evidence, Li confessed to fabricating the authorization materials. In accordance with relevant provisions of the Civil Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China, the court imposed a five-day judicial detention penalty on Li.
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