In Yiyang, Hunan, senior citizen residences suspected of illegal fund raising have been very common in the past few years, promising the elderly with high interest rates, year-end trips, and the right to live in the beds in advance, and then the money goes nowhere. The paradox is that the elderly who usually can’t afford to spend money are throwing their weight around in this matter, using almost all their savings as an advance payment to buy a bed that they may not have lived in yet. The old man who committed suicide by jumping into the river is just one part of this cruel scam.
Most rural men of Cao’s age will have a peaceful old age, not to say rich and prosperous children and grandchildren, but to have money for his partner’s treatment, enough for two people to live, perhaps not as he did, stripped naked in the cold winter, over the railing, from Yiyang City Ziyang River Bridge leap down. The day was January 19, 2021.
Sinking into the river for the fourth day, Lao Cao was only recovered. The crowd gathered on the shore, some people who knew him saw the remains, no swelling, or as before, “thin and not a few”. Between the small talk, onlookers little by little spell out the old Cao’s story: 62 years old, less than one meter seven, hair gray most of the Time, in the hospital as a cleaner, younger also in the brick kiln factory work, played odd jobs, a little saved up 170,000 savings. He has no children, his wife in a previous Marriage and their children are not considered close, the old couple have to make plans for themselves.
His plan is to invest 170,000 yuan of his savings in a senior living institution called “Yiyang Nanuo Senior Living Co. In July last year, the founder of NANO turned himself in, suspected of illegally raising more than 320 million yuan, and Lao Cao’s money was among them. Not long ago his old partner was admitted to the hospital due to diabetes complications, and calls for money kept coming, while he could not afford to pay for the treatment.
According to the volunteers, more than 4,000 invested seniors had thought that moving into a senior living facility was a “perfect” choice – according to the picture described by Nano. According to the picture described by Nano, a pre-deposit of 30,000 yuan will get you a bed with a 10% discount on the cost of the bed, and a deposit of 110,000 yuan will get you a “permanent residence permit “If they don’t move in, it’s still a participating pension product that returns a certain percentage of the benefits every year and the principal is returned at the end of the contract.
It was not until half a year ago that they discovered that the attentive salesman who asked for warmth, the high return of welfare payments, and the promotional materials from the so-called official stand had combined to build a seemingly attractive illusion of old age.
The illusion is shattered
From the moment the “mine” started, the elderly people living in Nano were completely disrupted in their twilight years. Some people sat motionless on the stool, not knowing what position to face. Zhu Mei, who has kept a diary for 15 years, suddenly saw her blood pressure rise to 180, and went to the infirmary to prescribe medication – she had sold her house to come here, and had invested more than 200,000 of her Family money. Zhu Mei wrote in this book: all the elderly are now sleep and Food, bad luck.
It was a day in mid-July last year. The doors to the apartment, the medical office and the office were all sealed, and the elderly were told that they “had to leave” and that the water, electricity and food would be cut off at the end of the month. They just learned from the clerk that Lu Guanghui, the chairman of NANO, had surrendered to the Ziyang Branch of the Yiyang City Public Security Bureau, suspected of illegally absorbing public deposits.
Two days ago, Zhu Mei was playing cards with her friends in the small garden when two young men came over to check names and phone numbers. She thought they were new employees of the pension apartment, but did not expect them to be public security officers, asking them door to door and recording the contact information of their children. After that came another group of people, the original can be completely pushed open the window nailed, leaving only a finger to push open the space, “said for our safety. “Zhu Mei later understood the meaning behind: afraid that someone can not think to jump.
Ninety-year-old Lynch, in the search for death and the struggle for Life at the border. In order to enjoy the “Nano” 30% discount service, he sold his only house in his hometown, his son has died, his grandson is working abroad, he needs a place that can take him in. He needed a place to stay. At that time, the money on hand was only enough for the standard 10% discount, the salesman mobilized him to sell the house, and Lin Qi thus put together more than 10,000. This was his entire life savings earned from pushing a cart in a brick and tile factory, and he ended up without a single cent.
The apartment was in chaos for the next few days. There were uniformed people everywhere keeping order, and ambulances kept watch for days, coming at 8:00 am and going back at 5:00 pm. In the dining hall, there were usually more than 100 people eating, but in those days the cooks could not get paid and were not in the mood to cook, and the elderly were not in the mood to eat, some of them did not go downstairs at all. Only a few caregivers, who are paid on a daily basis, stayed behind to take care of the elderly who were completely unable to take care of themselves.
Zhu Mei was full before she could eat half of a bowl of noodles, and she was most disturbed by the move. After attending three coordination meetings, Zhu Mei and some elderly people offered to pay the cash themselves, hoping to still live here peacefully. But the coordinator said, “According to the legal procedures can only clear away all. “Buses from other nursing homes came and went, urging them to hurry up and leave.
A fellow caregiver, Luo Wei, was adamant that he would not move, “he said he would die there. “Like Lynch, this 94-year-old man has all his savings in Nano and is staying in just to spend his last days in peace. Another old man named Yuan passed away in those days, he had not been in good health and could no longer eat at the restaurant, but many people knew him.
Zhu Mei could never have imagined that this chaotic scene was the “perfect retirement plan” that had been envisioned before. -The house is spacious and bright compared to the gray relocation house in the city, especially the small garden, planted with many of her favorite osmanthus trees, Zhu Mei called it “oxygen bar “Almost every day, she goes there to play “upgrade”. After going there for a long time, she felt that the brain bleeding problem was much better, and also heard that an old man with emphysema moved over to remove the oxygen mask.
This nursing Home was built in the scenic area of Shiniutan Reservoir and was established in 2012. Zhu Mei lives in a six-storey building, the sunlight through the transparent roof sprinkled on the cobblestone walkway, lined with carefully pruned trees, you can rest on the chairs, but also in the fitness equipment to exercise
But those like Zhu Mei are in the minority, and for most of the elderly who have invested, this is just a bright future they have set aside – each house has a TV, washing machine, air conditioner, water heater, and a living room, kitchen and separate bathroom for the high-class room types. Common and chronic illnesses can go to the infirmary for infusion and injection and physical therapy. If you lose the ability to take care of yourself, you can also live on a special floor with a caregiver to take care of you.
Zhu Mei has lived here off and on for four years, often encountering the boss Lu Guanghui, “looks tiger-headed and easy-going”. Sometimes Zhu Mei and he chatted, “recruiting so many people in, and only so many people living, income and expenditure is not equal, you can stand it? “
In the first half of last year, the apartment recruited about ten new employees. At that time, the occupancy rate of the second phase of the apartment was less than half, and the third and fifth floors were almost empty. And every New Year’s Eve to engage in bonfire party, each time a few hundred tables, Hunan TV entertainment stars also invited over, Zhu Mei felt that the expenses were very large. But Lu Guanghui told her that it was a long-term plan.
Luo Wei is one of the new employees, originally put him in charge of training caregivers, but the new caregivers have not yet been recruited, he has nothing to do for the time being, he can only do odd jobs every day, help the elderly clean up a bit, go to the dining hall and wait for a meal. Soon after he went in, he heard that the boss’s brother, Lu Guangming, was sentenced to imprisonment, and that NANO would soon close down. But Luo Wei does not believe, “such a large scale, there is an open space is for the third and fourth phase of the preparation, how can something happen? “
But in less than two months of service, Luo Wei was not unaware of it. A colleague in management as an assistant advised him to resign, saying that financial difficulties, Luo Wei thought it was temporary, because the Epidemic nobody lived in. But then for 10 consecutive days, Luo Wei was responsible for the floor has been no seniors, he was unsure of his heart and proposed to leave, but did not approve, the supervisor was still worried that later came the elderly and could not find staff.
But soon NANO began to take the initiative to lay off staff, the first batch of layoffs were mostly medical care and management, and the second batch was laid off in less than half a month. Colleagues called Luo Wei again, “If you do not leave, the nursing home will close down. “
At that time, Zhu Mei was still immersed in her “oxygen bar”, walking during the day, sunbathing, looking forward to the fragrance of autumn osmanthus. To eat, she went to the dining hall to get two meat and one vegetable and one Soup. She has always longed for a group life, before she wanted to build a house with two high school classmates to build money to live together, three people just in time to play a “Red Lantern”, but it did not work out.
Four years here, is Zhu Mei feel the best days in this life, every Monday, Friday afternoon or evening, she is in front of the big screen and sisters K songs, daytime together to play Tai Chi, dance gym, she believes that “NANO ” is the place she can rely on for the rest of her life.
The “ALL IN” gamble
Similar cases of “bursting mines” in senior apartments have started one after another in Yiyang and surrounding municipalities since 2018. Even if some cautious entrants scattered investment in several, or quit Nano to invest in another, they all encountered “bursting mines”.
If it were not for the fact that he was also a fund raiser, Chen Zhongyong, who is over 70 years old, would not be so concerned about Lao Cao’s affairs. The day he found out he jumped into the river, Chen Zhongyong sitting on the 7 bus, just saw the last scene of Lao Cao on the bridge, originally got off the hilarious, learned that it is a matter of nursing homes, a kind of things hurt their feelings upward, “he died like this, it’s not worth dying “.
At first when he received the flyer from NANO salesman Xiao Li, Chen Zhongyong pressed to ignore it. He has his own retirement plan, children in the field for many years, did not expect the children pension, calculate down, the nursing home is the most reliable. Chen Zhongyong and his wife are determined to find one in Yiyang City, also visited 4 or 5, but to the site to see even the outer wall is not, only an office, the door hanging a sign. To the sky of dust, Chen Zhongyong can not imagine the future look, can only give up.
Around 2015, salesman Xiao Li began to enter his life, every week to the park to watch him play chess, inserting empty space to introduce “NANO”. At first, no one ignored this sweet-talking boy, and Xiao Li did not give up, for more than half a year, the old man could not wear face, back two sentences. Chat more, Xiao Li will accompany them home, and from time to time send some fruit. Chen Zhongyong still remember Xiao Li said, “Your children are not here, I am your son, is your daughter. “
Later, Chen Zhongyong learned that this is the usual words of the “Xiao Li”. They are in the park, vegetable market, supermarket door leaflets, three days call chatting family, affectionately said, “what you hang a phone call over, we when the children to help you solve. At that time, Chen Zhongyong really felt that he had a son, his own children call once or twice a month, only to see one side of the New Year, but around Xiao Li is the companionship within reach.
When “NANO” was mentioned again, Chen Zhongyong was less determined to refuse and followed Xiao Li to visit the site. There he met his former poker buddy Lao Li, who had been in the hospital for three months, and told him that the medical equipment was good, the dishes were not repetitive, and the management was formal. But NANO was too far away, with bumpy country roads that took an hour to get to the city, which didn’t fit Chen Zhongyong’s previous urban retirement plan.
But his hesitation was soon completely dispelled by Xiao Li. Chen Zhongyong’s wife’s feet had an allergy and swollen to the point that she couldn’t walk, so Xiaoli immediately drove downstairs to the community and took his wife to the hospital, where she was accompanied by a registered doctor and sent home. The next day, Chen Zhongyong put all his 110,000 pension savings into NANO.
In Nano, 110,000 is a watershed, pre-deposit above this amount means to have priority residency, no queue, enjoy 30% bed discount, and also can get a red shell “permanent residency certificate The “permanent residence permit”. Zhu Mei initially invested only 10,000, but under the incentive of this mechanism to add more than 110,000, and gave a copy to his partner.
According to the different investment amounts, Nano has divided the senior care service contracts into “Love”, “Supreme” and “VIP”. “Supreme”, “VIP “The more money you invest, the higher the discount on the beds. If you don’t stay in the apartment, this money is the reservation money of the bed, and you can also pay dividends regularly, again the more you pay, the higher the dividends.
After the investment, the elderly will get two cards – “Senior Service Card” which allows the elderly who do not live in the apartment The “Senior Service Card” allows seniors who do not live in the apartment to eat and live for free for 7 days a month, and the dividends will be credited to the “Welfare Spending Card”. If they continue to invest at the end of the year, they will receive a few hundred dollars in additional subsidies for physical therapy in the medical room and shopping in small stores.
Almost no elderly people have touched the money inside, there is no UnionPay logo on the card, and naturally, you can not withdraw. However, there are not a few elderly people who have made additional investments, especially when they notice the “Police Station Key Protection Unit” sign hanging on the front door and the photo wall with the relevant departments How can they not believe it? Some people even chagrined, “Such a good place, why not come earlier! “
According to the statistics of Liu Yimu, a local volunteer, based on the personal stories of the elderly, there are more than 4,000 elderly people who have invested money in “NANO”, and there are 14 elderly institutions with such problems and risks in Yiyang City. There are 14 elderly institutions with such problems and risks. Through police announcements, civil judgments, business status and other information to confirm, eight of them have problems with the inability to pay contracts, or have been prompted by the police suspected of illegal absorption of public deposits.
Liu Yimu’s mother was one of the victims of one of the elderly institutions “Hengfuhai”. She is a retired college teacher, while waiting for the bus by the salesman to talk, and then one after another invested 200,000. She also invested with more than 100 teachers in her family home, including many professors.
This is another large-scale retirement institution in Yiyang City, which is on par with “Nano”, and was built later in the downtown area. Chen Zhongyong, who is no longer the same Xiao Li because of the change of salesman, took his money out of NANO around 2018 and invested it in “Hengfuhai”. During the inspection, he found that the mode of selling pre-sold beds and the words used here were almost identical to those of NANO. The owner, Liu Yan, also personally washed the feet of the elderly, which impressed Chen Zhongyong. The most important thing is that there are shopping malls and supermarkets right outside, so Chen Zhongyong’s expectation of retirement in the city was realized.
However, NANO “burst” not even a month, last August 6, Heng Fuhai also by the Yiyang public security organs investigation, the chairman of Liu Yan suspected of illegal absorption of public Liu Yan was detained for the crime of illegally absorbing public deposits.
If you are more careful, you can avoid this scam? 42-year-old Wang Qingqiang is a doctor, there is no urgent need for retirement, do not speculate in stocks, do not buy funds, at first just to obey the mother, “take 50,000 yuan to play a “. At his mother’s insistence, he went on an expedition to Heng Fu Hai.
Unlike many elderly people, Wang Qingqiang studied a lot of information about pension institutions: claiming to have subsidies from the Civil Affairs Bureau, equivalent to official endorsement, can not be wrong; the promise of dividends interest rate of 10% or less, “within the scope of national statutory protection “. And eggs can not be put in the same basket, out of caution, Wang Qingqiang respectively in Heng Fuhai, Nano, Rouge Lake three nursing homes invested from 100,000 to 300,000. However, his “eggs” were all broken.
One interesting thing to note is that on November 25, 2020, the Yiyang Municipal Bureau of Civil Affairs released a list of nursing homes that meet the “Basic Standards of Service Quality for Nursing Homes”. “, and Rouge Lake and Hengfuhai, which were exposed to problems in July of that year, were among them. Today Rouge Lake is still operating normally, but the contract expired and could not be redeemed, only saying to investors that the rebate was postponed.
There are also many elderly people who can’t even line up a bed in the list of elderly institutions. According to the statistics of Yiyang City in 2018, there are about 120,000 citizens over 60 years old who tend to institutionalize their retirement. While there are 161 senior care institutions with compliance qualifications, there are only 48 privately run ones with 7,400 beds, which is a serious mismatch between supply and demand. This means that when choosing a senior care institution, there is a high probability that the elderly will meet a non-compliant one.
The lost old age
The ideal old age is gone, the money is gone, and even the shelter is temporarily arranged down in a hurry.
On July 22 last year, Zhu Mei moved to a private nursing home next to Yiyang Railway Station, relying on her monthly retirement salary of more than 2,000 to pay for her accommodation. The day before, Zhu Mei and her husband packed overnight, “Oops, so nervous, really like a refugee. “
The first day of the month, the private nursing home next to the private nursing home depends on more than 2,000 monthly retirees, and the day before, Zhu Mei and her husband spent the night packing, “Oh, it’s so stressful, it’s really like a refugee.” She rushed to move in order to take care of her mother-in-law Xiao Fenfang, who lives on the same floor, to help her move. I am here to move you. The place has been contacted and she will be there soon.
Xiao Fenfang is a retired old man in the community of Da Dock, 85 years old, her husband is no longer there, her son is working in Shanghai, she took the old house demolition money to live in Nano, and Zhu Mei couple became neighbors. After the “mine”, the community is responsible for the district ” NANO” elderly, have a house to notify their children to take home, sold the house no place to live, coordinate the placement in the community of the elderly institutions, each bed discount 200 yuan.
After the move, Xiao Fenfang cried for half a month, Zhu Mei’s blood pressure has been unstable, head stuffy, “I feel like I did a very stupid thing”. The money is hopeless, not feeling well, Zhu Mei is now almost closed, more than six months, and seven siblings in the same city did not string door. The “NANO family” once together karaoke scattered all over the place. “It is not clear where to go, the heart is still quite difficult. “
Ninety-year-old Lynch delayed moving out until the last day. He didn’t want to leave, but the government told him that he would not be able to leave without opening a meal. He had no children to pick him up, and he didn’t know where to go. He couldn’t go home, and with a monthly pension of only 1,700 yuan, there were not many nursing homes he could afford to live in, not even in the urban areas. On the last day of July, he was sent to a cheap rural nursing home.
Without money, Lin Qi is most afraid of getting sick. At the beginning of this year, he was suddenly admitted to the hospital with a stomachache. After a week in the hospital, the prepaid hospital fee of 3,000 yuan was quickly spent, and he had to be discharged, not knowing whether he was cured or not. Moved out for more than six months, a volunteer fearing that he would seek suicide, from time to time to see him, he just kept chanting: “There is no way, I have no way. “
Older people seem to be naturally shielded from public information. Back in 2019, Changsha saw a succession of “Heart of Love”, “Shunxiang Senior Living” and others. “Shunxiang elderly” and other institutions “burst the mine “The company has been a victim of tens of thousands of people, and the amount involved is more than one billion yuan. But in Yiyang, 80 kilometers away, an old man just signed the fourth contract in “NANO”, and someone else invested 200,000 yuan under the introduction of relatives.
In that year, Hunan Public Security Department informed that there were 327 non-public enterprises involved in the field of senior care in the province, 37 of which were suspected of illegal fund raising, which meant that more than one tenth of the private senior care institutions were caught in the scam of illegal fund raising. The legal representative of NANO, Lu Guanghui, was arrested for the same crime, and the most important question for the elderly is: Will the money come back?
The answer received was to wait for notification. Lin Qi’s tens of thousands of dollars were told by the case officer that it was a “minor problem” and that he should stop looking for it. The people hundreds of thousands of dollars do not panic, you tens of thousands of dollars is nothing? “There are also many elderly people who do not live in the apartment, due to go to pick up only to know “burst mines “But the salesman’s phone has become busy or empty number.
Some seniors could not stand it anymore before they told their children about the bed fee. When putting in money, few elderly people have discussed with their children, they think that the separation of the family, the elderly is their own business, “children can not count on”. Especially for only-child Parents like Zhu Mei, her daughter lives and works in Beijing, while she and her husband are back home in Yiyang, and although they talk on the phone once a week, they only meet once a year.
Anxious about where the money is going, volunteer Liu Yimu’s mother told him about the pooling of funds to invest, but how much was invested closed. Doctor Wang Qingqiang’s mother also refused to tell the amount, only vaguely said 400,000 to 500,000. Wang Qingqiang a check, a total of more than 1 million, “people stupid money, IQ as if there is a problem, too easy to trust others! “
Wang Qingqiang family investment in nursing homes, is recommended by his aunt. After receiving dividends the first few times, his mother was more active than anyone else, encouraging him to invest as well. Wang Qingqiang was reluctant at first, but his mother was very persistent, “she said the win counts for you, the loss counts for me. “Previously, Wang Qingqiang only lent money to people he knew, but now he can’t even trust the people he knows. The aunt who pulled her mother into the business at the beginning never appeared again, and the two families who were originally close tacitly broke off contact.
As for how to try to recover this money, the old people thought of nothing more than to the government door to discuss, like doctors, civil servants, teachers some social energy, on the Internet post, but all useless. Until the old Cao jumped into the river by Liu Yimu sent on the microblogging, the group of old people were finally seen. The WeChat group is turning articles about Lao Cao, who attended the briefing, also sent to the group to share the latest developments.
Lao Cao used an elderly cell phone, did not add the WeChat group. Chen Zhongyong said, if Lao Cao is in the group, and we talk, may not be so. According to the group owner, nearly half of the victims of the scam are still unaware that their money is gone because they use elderly phones.
Seeing the news of Lao Cao’s cremated remains, somehow, Chen Zhongyong felt that he might never get his money back. He still does not dare to mention to his children, if the children know that the money is gone, they may scold themselves, living expenses will not be given again, and they must worry about their reckless investment. At the same time, he feels sorry for his children, “if not cast, even if you die, there are more than 100,000 yuan can be left to their children. “
The day of January 19, he ran down from the bus and rushed to the shore, Lao Cao had jumped down, leaving only the clothes, shoes and wallets he took off, neatly stacked. After that for several days in a row, Chen Zhongyong went to the riverside to see, there was always no news of Lao Cao, just like they hit the water pension.
Recent Comments