It was 2013 and Mr. Wang was driving through the streets of Beijing when another vehicle hit his, scratching his body.
In order not to involve the police or insurance, the driver tried to appease him by means of a sum of money much higher than the damages caused.
This is how Wang discovered a new professional calling.
The eighth meaning of the word
"
Chinese, na
"
that the Royal Spanish Academy collects refers to porcelain, such is the link between this ceramic material and the Asian country where it became popular.
Now, it is not only tradition to create it: it is also to break it.
Thus,
pengci
[breaking porcelain] is known as the activity of scammers like Wang, who specialize in faking traffic accidents and then extorting money from the victims.
Wang perfected his
modus operandi
over time.
Once it identified a car trying to change lanes, it would catch up with it and adjust its speed, accelerating or braking as appropriate, until causing the collision.
Then he would go outside with his hands to his head.
More posts from this blog
Mobilization in Iran to prevent the hands of seven thieves from being amputated
Elizabeth II reduces the sentence to the murderer who faced a terrorist
The Belgian life of the Spaniard who tried to kill Pope John Paul II
Their fuss was supported by road safety regulations, which stipulate that whoever joins must give way.
In the worst case, the insurance agreed and covered the repairs.
Most of the victims, however, took out their wallets to settle the matter;
in particular taxi and bus drivers, for whom a violation would affect their salary.
At best, Wang was pocketing up to 4,000 yuan (507 euros).
This widespread practice causes many eyewitnesses to accidents to refuse to get involved or to quickly disappear from the scene to safeguard the integrity of their pockets.
So much so that the authorities have been forced to act.
Two weeks ago, the Ministry of Public Security, the Supreme Court and the Attorney General published a joint protocol, the first in the country, to prosecute scammers.
"In practice,
pengci
can be perpetrated in many ways and involve various criminal charges," ministry spokesman Sun Maoli explained during the press conference, emphasizing the need for a general and unambiguous definition.
This new legal framework defines
pengci
as "any act in which a person deliberately fakes an accident and then asks for compensation through fraud or extortion", and establishes specific prison sentences.
Wang already knows the lesson.
At the end of 2017, the Haidian district traffic authorities discovered his particular trade.
By then, the man had already caused more than 300 traffic accidents, sometimes up to three in the same day.
Wang was punished with nine months behind bars and a fine of 10,000 yuan (1,267 euros) - nothing that a few pieces of porcelain cannot fix.
Read more blog topics and follow us on Flipboard
