On August 10, Blue Whale News exclusively reported "Invest 30,000 years to make a million?" The article "Starting with the "Fake Alipay Merchant Recruitment" Scam: Merchants in many places were fooled, and the amount involved exceeded 10 million" has attracted widespread attention.
According to the investigation, since Alipay promoted the "Pengpeng" payment technology across the country in 2024, a number of unqualified companies have pretended to be Alipay official, and in the name of "regional exclusive agent, franchised investment promotion", etc., have collected agency fees and deposits ranging from 30,000 to 100,000 yuan from merchants through forged authorization documents and fictitious cooperation projects. After succeeding, these companies quickly ran away.
The reporter’s investigation found that this type of scam has caused merchants in many places across the country to be defrauded, with the cumulative amount involved exceeding 10 million yuan. After the report was published, Blue Whale reporters received a large number of tips from merchants who had the same experience of being defrauded, and relevant clues are still increasing.
Will investment promotion become a "robbery scene"?
The merchant said he was forced to transfer 30,000 yuan
Ms. Hu from Pingxiang, Jiangxi Province, told reporters that she received a strange phone call on December 27, 2024, and was asked to go to the hotel to participate in the Alipay "Pump and Touch" investment fair.
After arriving at the scene, Ms. Hu found that the venue was professionally decorated, the staff were all wearing vests with the Alipay logo, and the table signs were also marked with Alipay-related activities. During the meeting, the company played a promotional video of Alipay and claimed that its "Pengpeng" equipment was an authorized product of Alipay. It promised that after participants become "regional service providers", they can receive a cash reward of 200 yuan and a commission of 13% for each piece of equipment installed.
During the meeting, the staff took away Ms. Hu's mobile phone without authorization, scanned the QR code to pay, and entered the amount of 29,900 yuan on the pretext of "assisting the operation." The interviewee said: "At that time, multiple male staff surrounded me and threatened me to enter the payment password. They did not give me a chance to read the contract carefully and directly forced me to pay."
After getting it, he disappeared overnight.
Gangs roam the country committing crimes
It is worth noting that after paying the fee, the staff only delivered two "Pengyipeng" devices (30 were supposed to be delivered) and quickly sent her away from the venue. That night, when Ms. Hu tried to contact the other party, she found that the phone could not be connected. She immediately called the police after realizing that she had been deceived. Police investigation found that the gang had fled the area.
Judging from Ms. Hu’s statement, the whole process was exactly the same as the experience of Yuyu, the defrauded person in previous reports. In the past few days, more than ten merchants have exposed their defrauded experiences to reporters, and the companies involved were all Hangzhou Pangfu Technology Co., Ltd.
Blue Whale reporters found through multiple verifications that the company is good at using the "guerrilla warfare" model, and its footprints have spread across many provinces and cities. According to the information provided by the victims, the gang has successively used the same method to defraud in Shanghai, Shaoyang, Hunan, Loudi, Hunan, Pingxiang, Jiangxi and other places.
Its crime pattern has obvious characteristics of mobility. After holding an investment fair in one city, it immediately moves to the next city to avoid being hit.
The same gang has been cheating for many years by "changing their shells"
Even if the merchant wins the lawsuit, it will be difficult to recover compensation
After discovering that they had been deceived, many merchants complained to the local Municipal Supervision Bureau in Hangzhou, but were told that Hangzhou Pengfu Technology was a company with "three noes" - no actual business premises, no fixed assets, and no stable employees.
Blue Whale also mentioned in previous reports that in December 2024, the Hangzhou High-tech Zone (Binjiang) Market Supervision and Administration Bureau listed the company on the list of abnormal operations because it could not be contacted through its registered residence or business location. Even the company's legal representative, Du Xuebin, claimed to be the "top contractor" during the interview.
The reporter found in the payment records provided by the merchants that the payee was not the company, but the personal account of "So-and-so Quan".
An interviewee told the Blue Whale reporter that the full name of the account holder was Xiao Songquan, who had been defrauding people in similar ways many years ago in many places across the country. The reason why Xiao Songquan does not appear in the company Hangzhou Bangfu is that he is involved in many lawsuits over contract disputes and therefore cannot serve as the legal representative of Hangzhou Bangfu. At present, the legal representative of Hangzhou Pongfu is the top contractor elected by Xiao Songquan’s gang.
The reporter checked Tianyancha and found that Xiao Songquan is the legal representative of Hunan Minsui Information Technology Co., Ltd. The company was established in April 2020 with a registered capital of 5 million. In April 2021, Hunan Min Sui was also listed on the list of abnormal operations by the Yuhua District Market Supervision and Administration Bureau of Changsha City because he could not be contacted through his registered residence or business place.
Not only that, the company also has multiple risk warnings such as tax violations and restrictions on high consumption. It has been involved in more than 30 judicial cases, all of which were defendants, and the total amount involved exceeded 400,000.
Blue Whale reporters found from a judgment that the plaintiff signed a "Facial Scan Payment Project Cooperation (Service) Agreement" with Hunan Minsui, and the court ruled that the company should return 29,800 yuan in service fees to the plaintiff.
It can be seen that the company began to pretend to be the official Alipay many years ago and promote the face-swiping payment project scam. With the iteration of technology, the gang replaced the former face-swiping payment equipment with today's "Pengpeng" terminal, and continued to defraud using the handbag company of Hangzhou Pengfu.
Some victims told reporters that the brilliance of such companies is that they are good at using legal loopholes to avoid risks and package an obvious fund-raising fraud into a contract dispute. Even if they report the crime to the local police, the response given by most people is just a contract dispute and they need to go to the local court to sue.
What’s even more despairing is that even if the defrauded person goes through all kinds of hardships and wins the lawsuit, he or she may only be faced with an “empty verdict.” Because these "three no's" companies have neither actual assets nor fixed business premises, they cannot be enforced after the court's judgment. Many victims ultimately had to give up defending their rights due to difficulties in obtaining evidence, long litigation cycles, and high recovery costs.
Is it a contract dispute after signing a contract?
Lawyer: Already suspected of fraud and fund-raising fraud
A contract is by no means a talisman to avoid criminal liability
Regarding the series of deceptive practices of the above-mentioned companies, Blue Whale reporters consulted lawyers.
Lawyer Wang Qiong from Beijing Yunting Law Firm said that in this case, the company involved used the "Alipay Pengpeng Agency" project as a guise to carry out large-scale fraud activities. Its behavior seriously disrupted the market order and damaged the legitimate rights and interests of merchants. From a legal perspective, the actions of these companies have been suspected of fraud and fund-raising fraud, rather than simple contract disputes.
According to Article 266 of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China, the crime of fraud refers to the act of defrauding a relatively large amount of public or private property by fabricating facts or concealing the truth for the purpose of illegal possession. The report mentioned that these companies pretended to be Alipay's official name to conduct investment promotion activities, fabricated projects such as "exclusive agency" and "regional investment promotion" to create the illusion of investment returns, and induced merchants to pay high agency fees and deposits and then run away with their money. Their behavior complied with the elements of the crime of fraud.
In addition, according to the provisions of Article 192 of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China, whoever uses fraudulent methods to illegally raise funds for the purpose of illegal possession, and the amount is relatively large, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than seven years, and shall also be fined; if the amount is huge or there are other serious circumstances, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than seven years or life imprisonment, and shall also be fined or have property confiscated. These companies attract funds from unspecified merchants through different levels of agency models, such as city agent 60,000 yuan, provincial agent 120,000 yuan, and national agent 250,000 yuan. The promise of "one million yuan a year" in fixed income is consistent with the crime of fund-raising fraud.
At the same time, according to the "Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Specific Application of Laws in the Trial of Criminal Cases of Illegal Fund-raising", illegal fund-raising behavior includes characteristics such as absorbing public funds without approval, promising high returns, and publicity to the public. The report mentioned that these companies use high profits as bait to attract a large number of merchants to invest, and then use the funds for their own operations or abscond with the money, which has obvious illegal fund-raising properties.
Regarding the difficulty of merchants safeguarding their rights, lawyer Wang Qiong believes that victims can file a lawsuit in court in accordance with Article 153 of the Civil Code, requesting confirmation that the contract is invalid and ordering the company involved to return the money paid and interest. While suing, apply to the court for property preservation and seize the accounts or assets of the company involved to ensure the possibility of execution after winning the lawsuit.
Through criminal rights protection channels, report cases and promote case filing. In accordance with the above content, we actively collected evidence and reported the case to the public security organs, striving to classify the case as a fund-raising fraud crime. After the case enters criminal proceedings, the victim should actively cooperate with the public security organs and procuratorial organs and provide necessary testimony and evidence.
In addition, similar criminal facts and the fund-raising fraud judgment of Nanning Biantuo Company (the same method has been convicted) can also be cited to support the claim.
Lawyer Wang Qiong emphasized that when a scammer signs a contract using a false identity and neither delivers the equipment nor operates the business after receiving the payment, but instead transfers the funds and runs away, the contract is only a prop for fraud and is by no means a talisman to avoid criminal liability. The victim should immediately report the crime and the actual controller should be held accountable.