Recently, a consumer told Red Star Capital Bureau that under the guidance of an intermediary, he rented a mobile phone and cashed out. For a mobile phone with a total rent of more than 13,000 yuan, he actually received more than 4,000 yuan. Another interviewee said that his brother rented 22 mobile phones on 20 platforms, with a total rent of more than 280,000 yuan, and the remaining unpaid rent was about 200,000 yuan.

An investigation by the Red Star Capital Bureau revealed that intermediaries play a role in guiding users in the process of “renting machines and cashing out”. An intermediary said that the company cooperates with the rental platform. If the user successfully rents the phone, the platform will give the company rebates. At the same time, the company also cooperates with recyclers to earn the difference in the price of recycling mobile phones.

According to the lawyer, the intermediary’s behavior of guiding users to cash out is likely to be suspected of disguised loan sharking. Under the lease-to-cash model, intermediaries use the lease as a guise. Although users do not pay high interest directly, they bear rents that are much higher than the actual value of the mobile phone. There is a serious mismatch between the amount of money that users get through cashing out and the rent that needs to be paid. This is similar to the nature of loan sharks making huge profits through high interest rates.

"Rent and cash out"trap:

Rented a mobile phone for RMB 13,000, and actually received more than RMB 4,000

On February 20, Li Yun (pseudonym) told the Red Star Capital Bureau that in September 2024, she had no money to repay an online loan of about 20,000 yuan, and planned to use the loan to support the loan. She browsed some online loan platforms and was unable to borrow money because she was not qualified enough, but she received a call from an aircraft leasing agency. The agent told her that she did not need to review her personal credit report when renting a phone. She could rent the phone first and then sell it to solve her urgent need.

Li Yun said that some platforms require customers to pay a deposit when renting a machine, or pay the first and last month's rent when making the first payment. She had no money, so the intermediary would first transfer her a sum of money to the platform. After the intermediary sells the phone, the money will be deducted, and the remaining money will be the money she actually cashed out.

She took the iPhone 15 Pro Max (256G) she rented as an example. The first installment rent was 2,080 yuan, and the accident protection was 698 yuan. The agency transferred the first payment of 2,778 yuan to her. The phone was finally sold for about 7,000 yuan. Li Yun actually cashed out more than 4,000 yuan, and the total rent was 13,498 yuan. In other words, the amount Li Yun cashed out was approximately 30% of the total rent.


Photo provided by interviewee

After quickly cashing out, Li Yun still had to face the monthly rent, so she could only continue to rent machines to cash out. Li Yun rented seven or eight mobile phones from one agency and more than ten mobile phones from another agency.

Li Yun said that sometimes the platform mails the phone to her and then she sends it to the intermediary; sometimes she fills in the intermediary’s address directly and the platform sends the phone to the intermediary. As of now, all the mobile phones rented by Li Yun are overdue, and she still has about 170,000 yuan in rent outstanding.

Mobile phone leasing is generally divided into two types: "free after renting" and "return upon expiration". In the mode of return at maturity, the mobile phone has been sold by the intermediary, and the user needs to pay an additional "buyout fee". Li Yun took the iPhone 15 Pro Max (512G) on Youpinzu as an example. After paying off the entire rent of 7,226.79 yuan, a buyout fee of 7,299.65 yuan still needs to be paid.


Photo provided by interviewee

Like Li Yun, Ye Tingting's (pseudonym) brother was also heavily in debt because of cashing out from rented aircraft. On February 20, Ye Tingting told the Red Star Capital Bureau that in November 2024, her family discovered that her younger brother owed 170,000 yuan in rent for renting and cashing out machines within a year, involving more than a dozen mobile phones, and they paid back all the money for him at that time. Three months later, on February 14 this year, they once again discovered that their brother had rented a plane and cashed out.

The bill sent by Ye Tingting showed that her brother rented a total of 22 mobile phones on 20 platforms, with a total rent of more than 280,000 yuan, and the remaining unpaid rent was about 200,000 yuan. Judging from the bills, the rental cost of a single mobile phone exceeds 10,000 yuan.


Photo provided by interviewee

Ye Tingting said that her younger brother didn’t even remember how much he had cashed out. At first, he came into contact with an aircraft leasing agency, which also advanced one or two installments of rent for him. Later, more and more agencies called her brother and added WeChat messages. Ye Tingting said that the family has not yet helped her brother repay the 200,000 yuan, but only negotiated and settled the buyout price of the iPhone 16 Pro Max (256G) that her brother rented on a certain platform from 9,865 yuan to 4,500 yuan.

The intermediary said that payment will be made on the same day after the review is approved.

The intermediary company earns platform rebates and recovers the price difference

In the above interviews, intermediaries all played an important role in the process of cashing out aircraft rentals. Recently, Red Star Capital Bureau contacted two intermediaries as aircraft renters.

On February 21, Ms. Wang, an intermediary, said that you can rent a mobile phone if you have a Sesame credit score of 600 or above. "It doesn't matter if you have a credit report. The operation is simple and only takes 3-5 minutes. As long as you pass it today, the recycler will pay you immediately." Ms. Wang also said that if the platform asks about the purpose, just say that you need a mobile phone. "Don't say it is for cash. When asked about your repayment ability, just say 'ok'."

Ms. Wang asked Red Star Capital Bureau to rent an iPhone 16 Pro Max (512G) through Alipay’s Idol rental app. Ms. Wang said that if the review is passed on the same day, the recycler will transfer 5,000 yuan before receiving the mobile phone, which will be divided into two times. The first payment will be the first installment of rent, and the remaining money will be transferred after the platform's delivery order number is released; the recycler will transfer the balance after receiving the mobile phone from the user.

On February 23, another agent Zhang Jiahui (pseudonym) told Red Star Capital Bureau that she had worked for an aircraft rental agency for more than a month and saw customers renting more than 30 mobile phones at most.

Zhang Jiahui said that at that time, she did not need to find customers by herself, the company would provide her with a list. Zhang Jiahui said that some people often browse online loan platforms or rental platforms, fill in their personal information or authorize their mobile phone numbers to log in, and these people are compiled into a list. The company bought these lists, and she would sit in the office and make phone calls every day. If the other party needed to rent a machine, she would add them on WeChat. She could usually add several people in a day.

After adding WeChat, Zhang Jiahui channeled traffic to various rental platforms. Zhang Jiahui said that the company cooperates with multiple platforms, numbering in the hundreds, but she did not disclose the specific platforms with which the company has cooperated. Zhang Jiahui said that after customers rent a mobile phone, the platform will give the company a rebate, usually two to three hundred yuan for a mobile phone.

In addition to rebates, the intermediary company’s second income comes from recovering the price difference. Zhang Jiahui takes an iPhone 15 Pro Max (256G) as an example. The recycling price quoted by the company to the renter is 6,800 yuan, but the company can sell the mobile phone for about 7,600 yuan. The recycling price difference is about 800 yuan. Plus the platform's rebate, the company's final profit is about 1,000 yuan.

How do intermediary companies sell mobile phones? Zhang Jiahui said that the company also cooperates with recyclers. After customers receive the mobile phones, they send the mobile phones to the recyclers, but she is not aware of the specific cooperation plan between the company and the recyclers.

There is a platform review that does not require a credit report

The total cost of renting the phone is higher than the original price of the phone

How does the platform conduct audits during the rental process? Li Yun said that most platforms are not strict in their review. Generally, platform staff can add WeChat and submit Zhima information recordings or go through Tencent meetings to pass the review. Personal credit reports are not required.

Red Star Capital Bureau learned that Alipay and WeChat, as the core entrances to credit leasing, have gathered a large number of rental platforms with large user bases and convenient review. In terms of review, each platform has different standards.

Bajiezu’s customer service staff said that the mobile phones are all operated by the platform itself, and the platform does not check credit information during the review. The review mainly examines the user’s Sesame Credit, deposit-free limit, etc. Youpinzu’s customer service staff said that the platform review requires checking the user’s credit report. If Zhima’s credit limit is sufficient, the deposit can be waived in full.

On February 25, the relevant person in charge of Aizhuji told the Red Star Capital Bureau that the platform's review was set in accordance with Alipay's "Rental Industry Management Standards" (hereinafter referred to as the "Standards"). Red Star Capital Bureau noted that the "Specifications" require that leasing merchants are strictly prohibited from allowing the same user to place unreasonable repeated orders, or to provide users with leasing services that exceed their consumption capacity.

In terms of price, the Aizhuji applet shows that if you choose to buy out the iPhone 16 Pro Max (512G) at maturity, the total rent will be 7,766.33 yuan, and the buyout fee at maturity will be 7,679 yuan, totaling 15,445.33 yuan. The phone is priced at 11,999 yuan on the official iPhone website.


On the left is the Alipay applet of iRent.com; on the right is the Alipay applet of Renren Rental

Is it reasonable that the total cost of renting a phone is higher than the original price of the phone? The relevant person in charge of Aizhuji told Red Star Capital Bureau that the prices of platform products are set in accordance with the "Specifications". The "Specifications" indicate that long-term rentals are considered long-term rentals if the lease period is greater than 90 days, and the total annual rent + resale amount of long-term rental products shall not exceed 130% of the official website price of the product. The iPhone 16 Pro Max (512G) is 1.3 times the official website price of 15,598.7 yuan, which is only 153.37 yuan higher than the total cost of the i-rental machine.

Does the platform know that the rented mobile phones are being sold for cash? On February 26, the relevant person in charge of Aizhuji told the Red Star Capital Bureau that the relevant information was not convenient to disclose because it involved company confidentiality.

Lawyer: Leasing aircraft for cash may be suspected of disguised loan sharking

Shanghai police cracked the first "aircraft rental loan" case last year

As early as 2018, the Office of the Leading Group for Special Rectification of Internet Financial Risks pointed out that among various "vest" cash loan platforms, platforms that lend money in the form of mobile phone leasebacks are the most rampant. Most of their target customers are college students, and the interest rates are extremely high. Generally, the annualized interest rate is above 300%, and in some cases even exceeds 1,000%.

Red Star Capital Bureau noticed that in July 2024, the Shanghai Public Security Bureau announced that it had detected the first illegal business case of illegal lending in the name of "mobile phone rental".

In this case, when Ms. Jiang, a citizen, was in urgent need of money, she was attracted by the "loan intermediary" Wu's promises of "no collateral, no credit reference, and quick loans." She rented mobile phones from more than 10 similar "rental platforms" and cashed out more than 140,000 yuan. However, the "rent" that needed to be repaid within 3 months had reached more than 420,000 yuan.

According to the police, after evaluating the interrelationship and role between the rental mall, the loan "intermediary" and the mobile phone recycling personnel, it was found that the real desire of the borrowers and the rental platform did not lie in physical mobile phones, but in cash. Comprehensive analysis shows that this is a criminal act disguised as loan sharking under the guise of leasing mobile phones to earn rental fees.

During the investigation of this case, the police also discovered several other similar rental and loan platforms. These platforms often share "customers" and use "intermediaries" to induce the same borrower to rent aircraft on different platforms, thereby achieving the purpose of lending large amounts.

On February 26, Fu Jian, director of Henan Zejin Law Firm, told Red Star Capital Bureau that the intermediary’s behavior of guiding users to cash out on their own is likely to be suspected of disguised loan sharking. Fu Jian said that in the traditional definition of loan sharking, excessive interest is often used as the main criterion; in the rental and cash-out model, intermediaries use rental machines as a guise. Although users do not directly pay high interest, they bear rent that is much higher than the actual value of the mobile phone. The amount obtained by the user through cashing out is seriously unequal to the rent to be paid, which is similar to the nature of loan sharks making huge profits through high interest rates.

Fu Jian further emphasized that intermediaries are not financial institutions engaged in issuing loans and cannot engage in the business of issuing loans without the approval of the financial regulatory authorities. This behavior of issuing usury to unspecified objects disrupts the normal financial order, causing the rental business to deviate from the normal track and become a means of illegal fund lending. The intermediary is suspected of committing the crime of illegal business; if the platform and the intermediary collude and have a common criminal intention, they will constitute an accomplice in the crime of illegal business.

Zhao Liangshan, a senior partner at Shaanxi Hengda Law Firm and a well-known public interest lawyer, told the Red Star Capital Bureau that if an intermediary or platform persuades consumers to use leasing when they know that the leasing cost is abnormally high, but does not actually deliver the leased property to the lessee for use, but uses disguised loans such as selling machines and cashing out, then this situation does not constitute a financial lease, but constitutes disguised usury or illegal lending.

Regarding the relationship between the intermediary and the platform, Zhao Liangshan explained that if the rental platform knows that the intermediary is making profits and still facilitates the intermediary's violation of the law, or cooperates in some way, then the intermediary and the rental platform constitute a joint illegal act.

Zhao Liangshan suggested that in order to solve this chaos, relevant laws and regulations need to be introduced to clarify the rights and obligations of all parties to ensure the legitimate rights and interests of consumers; at the same time, the crackdown on illegal intermediaries should be intensified, because most users are induced or manipulated to carry out related rental operations, and some intermediaries actually dig traps for users; in addition, audits and legal education should be strengthened to reduce the possibility of users being deceived.