In recent years, it is not uncommon for Chinese milk tea stores to open with long queues at every turn. As customers see the long lines of milk tea stores, they naturally want to try the taste, and franchisees will be willing to join when they see the booming business of milk tea stores. But the customers you see lining up are probably “trustees” who have been hired by fraudulent gangs to create a false atmosphere of brisk business in order to gain the trust of franchisees.
According to reports from mainland media, more than 50 milk tea brands in China were recently found to be involved in “set-up franchise” scams, involving more than 700 million yuan.
The report cited a milk tea store in Shanghai’s People’s Square called “Chazilan” as an example, saying that the line at the front of the store was unprecedented, with a constant stream of people buying milk tea. The truth is that the people in line are hired. The fraudulent group hired people to pose as consumers at a price ranging from $40 to $80 per person per day to queue in front of the milk tea store in a circular fashion, creating the illusion of a brisk business.
The queues were not designed to attract consumers, but to “harvest” franchisees. After creating the queue and taking pictures to follow the video, the company that hired the people in the queue sent the video to the franchisees who came to inquire about it, convincing them that they were joining a popular milk tea brand. After the photo shoot was completed, these queues part-time dispersed, and the store remained empty.
Harvesting franchisees with advertisements for joining a well-known milk tea brand
According to the report, the fraudulent group through the well-known milk tea franchise advertising to recruit franchisees, and when the franchisees are interested in the project, and then to join the brand they want to join the quota has been full, to introduce a “vest” milk tea brand to franchisees, in order to cheat the franchise fee.
The report said, for example, in May 2020, Mr. Wang saw a well-known brand of milk tea on the Internet to join the advertising, the idea of joining the business. Shortly after entering the site to leave contact information, customer service personnel took the initiative to call and provide him with a detailed description of the management and profit prospects. And then, the customer service said that the brand milk tea to join the quota has been full, and recommended a milk tea brand called “tea Zhilan”.
The customer service said that “Chazilan” is a third-generation brand belonging to the same group as the famous brand of milk tea, and invited Mr. Wang to the company for a field trip. In the company, the investment manager Zhang showed him the investment authorization letter of the milk tea brand, and at the same time showed the promotional video of the brand “Chazilan” milk tea. After the company’s publicity, Mr. Wang signed an agreement with the company and paid a franchise fee of 100,000 yuan. However, after the store joined, the company promised support and did not do, Mr. Wang’s store was only open for 3 months and was on the verge of closure, and the company did not pay attention to Mr. Wang’s request for help.
Shanghai Public Security Bureau reported that the suspects Jin, Wang and others for illegal profits, the establishment of a catering company, in the absence of the right company authorized permission to build a number of false brands of milk tea investment website, design and release with the words “brand to join” investment advertising. Subsequently, the acquisition or registration of more than 50 milk tea brands, through the design of promotional tactics, the arrangement of operators to promote the franchise business, involving an amount of more than 700 million yuan. At present, more than 90 suspects suspected of contract fraud, has been taken criminal compulsory measures, the case is under further investigation. And the “tea Zhilan” is the group of more than 50 “vest” milk tea brand one.
The “Chazilan” milk tea spokesperson is the well-known Chinese actress Ma Yili, so it caused a lot of controversy. May 15, Ma Yili studio issued a statement, said received a police notice, Ma Yili endorsement brand Chazilan suspected of illegal crime is under public security investigation, Ma Yili side has been the first time to propose the termination of contract and cooperate with the . If there are other cheated franchisees who do not have the right to defend their private letter to the studio, the studio will fully assist in defending their rights.
Ma Yili then also forwarded a statement and said, “I’m very sorry, as the brand’s previous spokesman, I once again apologize to all franchise victims.”
Public information shows that the tea Zhilan was established in 2013, is now the brand of Shanghai taste Xiang Catering Management Co. In response to the case of “tea Zhilan” involved in “set to join” fraud, Mr. Xu, who is in charge of after-sales operation of the Taste Xiang restaurant management company, said that the case informed that the Jin involved is not a person of the Taste Xiang company. The company is responsible for attracting investment, and the company is responsible for after-sales operation.
Mr. Xu said that the police are currently investigating the relationship between the company and the criminal gang, and the results of the investigation have not yet been released.
But there are many netizens in the company’s home page discussion area rights, said cheated: “We must not be pit ah, I paid 50,000 to 60,000 yuan, the back does not care”, “This is a fraudulent company, and so you pay the money to care about everything”. There are also netizens who asked in March this year, “What should I do if I was cheated by this company, and where can I find them.”
The incident sparked attention on the Internet, netizens have been talking about it: “After reading this news, I think the wisdom of Chinese people, really used to harm their own people, there are no similar ideas? I’m going to go to the top”, “It’s too hard to do business, before there are harsh taxes, after there are sets to join”.
There are also netizens who keep leaving messages asking the authorities to solve the problem of P2P financial refugees: “Not only should we combat the problem of celebrity endorsement, but we should also solve the problem of financial refugees! These p2p platforms with Chinese characteristics, the use of policy gaps, and the regulator woes, benefit sharing, specializing in drinking the blood of the people. To solve the p2p problem, we must solve the problem of corruption in the regulatory sector!” The “star celebrities have such a strong legal brokerage team, have so much social experience, are unable to see through the illegal face of those p2p platform, and for the endorsement or stand. How can the common people identify them? Please think: is the fraudster too clever, or the environment is too conniving? There is no regulation in the financial market, and the public can see the fraudsters running around, who brought the gold disaster people into the pit along with these big-name stars?” The lack of regulation has allowed Internet finance to run naked for so many years, and how many people have been harmed?”
Recent Comments