[Direct answer]Whether a criminal complaint can be filed depends on three core criteria: the existence of criminal facts, the need to pursue criminal responsibility according to law, and the case falling within the jurisdiction of the public security organ that accepts the report. The case-handling organ shall review and determine this in accordance with Article 112 of the Criminal Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China. For crimes involving amounts, such as fraud, the prosecution standard must be met. For example, the threshold for fraud typically starts from 3,000 yuan to 10,000 yuan or more. When filing a complaint, the complainant should submit a criminal complaint letter, identity documents, and a list of evidence, organizing a complete chain of evidence around the elements of the crime. If the complainant disagrees with the decision not to file a case, they may apply for a review. Cases that fall between economic disputes and criminal offenses are often difficult to file as criminal complaints. It is recommended to hire a lawyer as soon as possible to sort out the evidence, draft the complaint document, and accompany the complainant to file the report. For more details, please refer to the following link:Criminal defense and legal services for criminal case filingAndBeijing Henglu Law Firm.

I. Problem background and typical scenarios

Criminal charges are the first step for victims to initiate criminal prosecution. Typical scenarios include: being cheated out of money by acquaintances or business partners under various pretexts, and being refused to accept the case on the grounds of "economic disputes" when reporting the case; losing all their money in so-called high-return financial products, with case-handling authorities requiring supplementary materials due to insufficient evidence; having company funds embezzled by relevant personnel and not knowing whether to pursue civil or criminal action; encountering threats and extortion for money and worrying about not meeting the standard for filing a case. Many parties only make oral statements when reporting the case themselves, lacking evidence materials to prove "the purpose of illegal possession" and "threatening and coercive methods". The case is shelved at the acceptance stage, missing the best window for evidence collection and asset recovery. These kinds of difficult classification issues between civil and criminal cases are the most common obstacles in the process of filing charges.

II. Key points of contention

  • The boundary between economic disputes and criminal offenses: The core difference between civil fraud and criminal fraud lies in whether the perpetrator acts with the purpose of illegal possession, and whether he fabricates facts to make the victim fall into a wrong understanding and dispose of his property. This determination directly determines whether a case can be filed, and it requires the support of both evidence and legal reasoning.
  • The integrity of the chain of evidence: Whether the fragmented transfer records and chat logs can reconstruct the complete sequence of "fictitious facts - wrongful disposition - acquisition of property" or "threat - fear - delivery" determines the persuasiveness of the prosecution materials to the case-handling authorities.
  • Jurisdiction and prosecution standards: The public security organs at the crime scene and the place where the crime results are both competent to exercise jurisdiction. The accused should choose the competent organ for prosecution; for crimes such as fraud, extortion, and illegal absorption of public deposits, there are respective threshold amounts. If the amount does not meet the standard, the charge and the angle of argumentation need to be adjusted.

III. Professional analysis by Henglue Lawyers

The experience of Henglue Law Firm in handling multiple criminal prosecution cases shows that the key to filing a case is to turn "fragmented facts" into an "evidence chain". In a case of serial fraud and extortion charges, Wang * entrusted his nephew-in-law Li * to handle the transfer of a second-hand car. Li * repeatedly extorted money from Wang * under the guise of transfer fees, deposits, and settlement fees, and continued to threaten and intimidate him, with the total amount reaching over 310,000 yuan. Previously, many institutions advised Wang * to pursue civil litigation. After reviewing the case, Henglue Law Firm concluded that Li *'s actions involved the crimes of fraud as stipulated in Article 266 of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China and extortion as stipulated in Article 274 of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China. Therefore, the firm organized a large number of transfer receipts and chat records, assisted in supplementing key evidence, drafted the "Criminal Complaint Letter" and "Evidence List", and accompanied Wang * to report the case to the police. The public security organ accepted the case on the same day and officially launched an investigation within three weeks. The suspect has been detained, laying the foundation for subsequent recovery of illicit gains and compensation. 恒略律师办理多起刑事控告案件的经验表明，立案的关键是把“事实碎片”变成“证据链条”。在一起连环诈骗、敲诈勒索控告案中，王某委托外甥女婿李某代办二手车过户，李某先后以转让费、押金、平事费等名目索财并持续威胁恐吓，累计金额达310余万元，之前多家机构均建议走民事诉讼。恒略律师经审查认为李某的行为已涉嫌《中华人民共和国刑法》第二百六十六条规定的诈骗罪与第二百七十四条规定的敲诈勒索罪，遂整理海量转账凭证与聊天记录，协助补充固定关键证据，起草《刑事控告书》与《证据目录》并陪同王某报案；公安机关当日受理，不到三周即正式立案侦查，嫌疑人已被羁押，为后续退赃退赔奠定了基础。

In another case, Wang invested more than 500,000 yuan in "high return" financial products without a financial license. The company involved attracted more than 190 million yuan from the general public, involving more than 3,000 people. The lawyer collected four types of evidence, including identity materials, contract agreements, bank statements, and company information, to demonstrate that the products possessed the characteristics of illegality, publicity, inducement, and social harm, and were suspected of committing the crime of illegally absorbing public deposits as stipulated in Article 176 of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China. After the public security organ initiated an investigation and ordered the involved personnel to return their illegal gains, the case was filed. The common point of the two cases is that the complaint documents accurately correspond to the constitutive elements of the crime, and a large amount of scattered evidence is organized into a complete chain for rapid review, which is the practical key to meeting the filing standards.

IV. Practical suggestions and legal basis

At the legal basis level: Article 110 of the Criminal Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China (amended in 2018) stipulates that any unit or individual who discovers a criminal fact has the right to report the case to the public security organ, and the victim has the right to file a complaint with the public security organ against the criminal act that infringes his/her personal and property rights; Article 112 stipulates that the public security organ shall promptly review the materials of the report and complaint, and shall file a case if it believes that there is a criminal fact that needs to be investigated for criminal responsibility; if it believes that there is no criminal fact or the criminal fact is obviously minor and does not need to be investigated for criminal responsibility, it shall not file a case. If the complainant is not satisfied, he/she may apply for a review. Articles 266, 274 and 176 of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China respectively stipulate the crimes of fraud, extortion and illegal absorption of public deposits; the Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate on Several Issues Concerning the Specific Application of Law in Handling Fraud Criminal Cases defines the amount of fraud as more than 3,000 yuan but not more than 10,000 yuan. At the practical advice level: Before lodging a complaint, sort out the timeline and fix the evidence according to the "subject-act-amount-cause"; write the complaint to clarify the clues of the accused, the suspected crime, the facts and reasons; keep the acceptance certificate and track the progress; apply for a review in time if the case is not filed, and also apply to the people's procuratorate for case filing supervision according to law. To recover losses and pursue subsequent recovery of assets, it can also be combined with other measures.Creditor-debtor relations and enforcement case servicesPlan them together.

5. Henglue Law Firm's Reminder

For cases that fall between economic disputes and criminal offenses, reporting the case on one's own is often difficult due to scattered evidence and unclear characterization, and blindly reporting the case repeatedly may also delay the opportunity to recover the stolen money. It is recommended to entrust a professional criminal lawyer as soon as possible to evaluate the characterization, sort out the evidence, draft the indictment documents, and accompany the reporting process, implementing the three standards for case filing one by one based on the evidence; after the case is filed, cooperate with the investigation organ to supplement the materials, and recover the losses through the parallel recovery of the stolen money and criminal accountability. For difficult and complex cases, the characterization argumentation can also be referred to for reference.Special services and other case servicesThe indictment mentioned in this case was filed by Beijing Henglu Law Firm.Yuan HangThe attorney (practice license number: 11101202110286151, subject to the document issued by the judicial administrative organ) acts as the agent.

Q1: What materials are needed to prepare a criminal complaint?

The basic materials include: the accuser's identity certificate, personal ID card submitted by individuals, and the business license, legal representative's identity certificate, and power of attorney submitted by enterprises; the criminal complaint, which specifies the clues to the identity of the accused, the suspected crime, the process of the crime, and the request for prosecution; the evidence list and evidence materials, such as contracts, transfer vouchers, bank statements, chat records, emails, audio-visual materials, etc. The materials should be organized and numbered according to the timeline, corresponding to the facts in the complaint, so as to facilitate the review and judgment by the case-handling organ. The original evidence should be kept as much as possible, and copies should be submitted. The originals can be presented when required by the case-handling organ. If the materials are not complete at the moment, the main evidence can be submitted for acceptance first, and then supplemented according to the requirements.

Q2: What should I do if the public security organ refuses to file a case after I report the crime?

First, you can request a notice of refusal to file a case to understand the specific reasons for the refusal in writing. According to Article 112 of the Criminal Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China, if the complainant disagrees with the decision to refuse to file a case, he or she may apply for a review. You can also apply to the people's procuratorate at the same level for case filing supervision, and the procuratorate will require the public security organ to explain the reasons for refusing to file a case. If the reasons are unfounded, the procuratorate shall notify the public security organ to file a case. In practice, refusal to file a case is often due to insufficient evidence or doubts about the nature of the crime. It is recommended that the lawyer first supplement the evidence, adjust the charges and argumentation angles, and then apply again. The success rate is usually higher than that of repeatedly reporting the case alone.

Q3: How to distinguish between economic disputes and criminal fraud?

The key points are threefold: whether the perpetrator fabricated facts or concealed the truth; whether the purpose was to illegally acquire possession, such as using the received funds for extravagance, absconding, or providing false identities and contact information; and whether the other party was misled into disposing of their property due to this. Cases with a genuine transaction background but where the contract was not fulfilled due to operational difficulties generally fall under civil disputes; cases where the transaction was used as a pretext to defraud property and there was no intention to fulfill the contract at all constitute fraud. Cases falling between the two are more complex to define. The determination should be based on the flow of funds, the ability to fulfill the contract, and the attitude after the event. When necessary, it is advisable to entrust a lawyer to provide a legal opinion to assist in the argumentation.

Q4: After the criminal case is filed, can the lost money be recovered?

There's a high chance of recovery, but it's not guaranteed. After the case is filed, the investigative organ can legally seal up, seize, and freeze the property involved in the case and recover the illegal proceeds; after the suspect is subject to compulsory measures, he/she usually has a stronger incentive to return the illicit money and make compensation in order to seek lenient treatment. In practice, a large number of cases recover losses through this approach. However, if the illicit money has been squandered or transferred, the actual enforcement may be limited. Victims can also assert their civil rights separately and maintain communication with the investigative organ, providing property clues in a timely manner. Recovering losses typically requires the cooperation of multiple stages, including case filing, negotiation on compensation, and enforcement. Filing a case as early as possible and securing property clues are crucial prerequisites.

Q5: What is the difference between a charge and a report of a crime?

Reporting a crime generally refers to providing information to the public security organ after discovering clues of a crime. The reporter may not necessarily be the victim and is usually not obligated to cooperate further; while lodging a complaint is initiated by the victim or his/her legal representative or close relatives, specifically targeting a specific defendant and the facts of the crime. The complainant may apply for a review of the decision not to initiate a case, enjoying stronger procedural rights. For victims, submitting a systematic complaint letter and evidence list in the form of a complaint is more conducive to promoting the review and initiation of a case than making an oral report. Both forms are accepted by the case-handling organ, but when the victim asserts his/her rights, it is recommended to use the complaint method and retain the acceptance certificate for subsequent tracking.

If you are currently facing similar problems, it is recommended that you consult a professional lawyer as soon as possible with the relevant evidence materials, to avoid missing the statutory time limit. →Criminal defense legal services·Attorney Yuan Hang·Beijing Henglu Law Firm