Majority of Putuo embezzlers under the age of 35
More than 90 people have been charged with embezzlement in 69 cases in Putuo District in the past four and a half years, with 70 percent of them aged under 35, according to a white paper issued by district prosecutors on Tuesday.
It said 31 of 92 embezzlers were administrative staff in companies and 12 were in accounting positions.
Most of the victim companies were small and medium-sized with many using business modes like subsidiaries, franchises and chains.
Prosecutors found that with the rapid growth of newly emerging industries and technologies, embezzlement methods were becoming more covert. Some Internet enterprises had many intangible assets such as their technologies. The transfer of such assets could not be detected quickly.
Prosecutors called for stricter supervision in companies as well as enhancing employees' awareness of the law.
The white paper cited a recent case where the embezzler, Fu, was working for a local travel agency. Between October 2017 and October 2018, he took advantage of his job as a travel agency salesman to embezzle more than 2 million yuan (US$282,215) from two customer companies and an individual customer.
The money had been used to pay debts and living expenses.
He was sentenced to three years in jail by the Putuo District People's Court earlier this year.