Before acting, ask one question: will the vendor, platform, or company file a police report; if you are pursued, hire a criminal defense lawyer at once

Before you act, ask one question: will the vendor, platform, or company file a police report. Investigating authorities have the power to obtain server logs, payment records, and group-chat records. If you are criminally detained, the decision whether to arrest you comes within at most 37 days. From the first questioning you may hire a lawyer; the lawyer can argue to the procuratorate that arrest should not be approved, and can also apply for bail

Cost

No money spent. Before acting, replace “can this be done technically?” with another question: will the vendor, platform, or company file a police report. The hard part is resisting the thought that “nobody will care about something this small,” because investigating authorities have the power to obtain server logs, payment records, and group-chat records

Benefit

Any unit or individual who discovers facts of a crime has the right to report it. If investigating authorities believe there are facts of a crime, they shall open a case. Courts, procuratorates, and public security “have the power to collect and obtain evidence from relevant units and individuals,” and those units and individuals must provide it truthfully. After criminal detention, public security must apply for arrest approval within 3 days (ask the procuratorate for formal arrest). In special circumstances this may be extended by 1 to 4 days. For circumstances such as crimes committed while roaming across places in series, it may be extended to 30 days. The procuratorate then has another 7 days to decide. Added up, the arrest decision comes within at most 37 days. When the procuratorate reviews arrest approval, “if defense counsel requests it, the defense counsel’s opinions shall be heard.” Counsel also has the right to apply to change compulsory measures — for example, replacing detention with bail pending trial — and the investigating authority must reply within 3 days. From the first interrogation, or from the time a compulsory measure is imposed (detention, arrest, and the like), you may entrust a lawyer. While the case is still being investigated by public security, you may only entrust a lawyer. When counsel requests a meeting, the detention center must arrange it within 48 hours at latest. If the likely sentence is control, criminal detention, or another penalty lighter than imprisonment, or only accessory penalties without a principal penalty, bail pending trial is available. Bail means posting a bond or finding a guarantor and going home while the case proceeds. Bail lasts up to 12 months (nationwide)

Notes

These 37 days count from detention to the procuratorate’s decision whether to approve arrest; they are not the upper limit on how long you can be held. After arrest approval there is still a detention period during investigation, which continues to run. Within these 37 days, what a lawyer can do is see the person, submit to the procuratorate an opinion that arrest should not be approved, and apply for bail pending trial. The author’s view is that waiting until after indictment to hire a lawyer means the arrest-approval stage has already passed. Every other item in this section is about the same thing: whether the other side has grounds to file a report.

Sources · 1

1. 全国人大 (2018). 刑事诉讼法（2018 年修正，第三十四、三十九、五十四、六十七、七十九、八十八、九十一、九十七、一百一十、一百一十二条）. spp.gov.cn/zdgz/201810/t20181027_396818.shtml