Is China-Chic Milk Tea, which is popular throughout the network, recruiting to join? Six people partnered to pretend to be agents and scammed over 10 million franchise fees
In order to seek illegal benefits, Du, together with Xia, Liu, Wang and others, recruited customers under the name of a well-known milk tea and catering brand franchise agent. They placed advertisements through online channels and disguised themselves as "scalpers" to attract customers, fabricated brand relationships, exaggerated store profits, and defrauded more than 180 victims of franchise fees of more than 10 million yuan. Recently, the People's Procuratorate of Qingpu District, Shanghai, prosecuted Liu and six others on suspicion of contract fraud.
On July 2, 2021, Qingpu Public Security received a report. A man surnamed Li claimed that he had chosen to join a milk tea shop in April of that year because he wanted to find another job. While visiting a well-known milk tea shop in Shanghai for inspection, he was approached by someone inside the shop. The other party claimed that he was the franchise agent of the milk tea shop, providing franchise related services, equipment and raw materials. As he was in the store, the man surnamed Xia who was supposed to strike up a conversation took out his business card. Mr. Li did not suspect that he was there, believed his words, and followed him to the Shanghai company marked on the card.
The company is in an orderly manner, with multiple employees shuttling back and forth. Mr. Xia introduced Mr. Li to the company's operator, Mr. Du, and together they took him to the sample room for on-site introduction. The two stated that the company has franchise rights for several well-known milk tea and fast food restaurants, all of which are authorized by the above brands and can provide a series of supporting services from opening to operating.
Mr. Li originally liked the Guochao milk tea shop he was visiting. Seeing that the facilities were perfect, he signed a cooperation agreement and began to accept the training courses arranged by the company after paying more than 50000 yuan of franchise fees on the spot. During the training period, Mr. Li found out while chatting with other franchisees that almost everyone was approached while inspecting the store, and then came here to sign the contract. This investment model made him suspicious. At this point, several franchisees came forward to refute Mr. Li, saying that although the channels they knew were somewhat strange, the stores of these brands were doing well, and there were many people who wanted to join. As long as they could open up, they could quickly make a profit.
Mr. Li is even more suspicious, always feeling that these good singers are not quite right. In the second half of the training, he learned that the prices of the company's equipment and raw materials were far higher than the market price, which further strengthened the company's judgment that there were problems, and ultimately decided to report to the police.
The once popular Chinese style milk tea on the internet is actually not related to the companies of Du and others
After investigation, the police found that Du and six others were suspected of committing a major crime, so they were arrested. After the case was transferred to the procuratorial organ for review and prosecution, the undertaking procurators Zhang Qin and Yan Tong reviewed a large number of customer information sheets recorded by the company, as well as monthly income and expenditure records, bank statements, personal bank statements related to suspects, WeChat statements and other materials. It was verified that Du and others recruited several people as investment attraction operators from April 2020 to June 2021 without franchise permission, promoted online in the name of the company by placing advertisements on media websites such as Tiktok, and recruited some employees to become "scalpers" offline to deceive others to the company. Subsequently, the company fabricated its background strength and store size, falsely claiming that the brand it joined and the well-known brand belonged to the same group or affiliated brands, attracting franchisees to sign contracts to open milk tea shops, parent-child restaurants, grilled fish restaurants, and other stores. In fact, Du and others only provide basic services such as training and site selection before franchisees open their stores, and then terminate their services after franchisees open their stores, thereby fraudulently obtaining franchise fees, agency fees, and other payments.
After questioning suspects such as Du, the prosecutor learned that the beginning of this crime was actually a entrepreneurial story. Du, who graduated from a design major, works with his younger brother in Shanghai. After getting married and having a daughter, Du began to consider his career plan. Coincidentally, in January 2020, my younger brother and a friend established a company, but it was poorly managed and faced closure in May of that year. Du took over the company at this time and became the actual operator and general manager.
Du chose China-Chic milk tea shop, which is popular among young people, as a business gimmick, and started to recruit employees and divide different positions without actually obtaining brand authorization. At first, the company couldn't find any franchisees, and the employee salaries and rent expenses were huge. Du initially planned to give up running the company, but one day, Wang, an employee of Du, accidentally met a customer who came to inspect other milk tea shops in the elevator and brought him to his own company. After on-site inspection, the customer signed a contract on the spot, which inspired Du and others. Therefore, they had the idea of using scalpers to impersonate customers to approach and attract business.
Sure enough, franchisees are constantly coming. Du and his team have prepared a series of services such as pre opening training and raw material provision, but the so-called "raw materials" are only ordinary products purchased from Taobao and sold to franchisees who are unaware of the situation after several times the price. After the customer's store officially opens, they often choose to blacklist and delete customer contact information to evade accountability.
After being discovered by franchisees, the criminal gang deleted their friends in an attempt to evade accountability
After examination, Du and others received a franchise fee of 10.15 million yuan for more than 180 victims. The prosecutor believes that Du and others, with the purpose of illegal possession, fraudulently obtained property from others through false advertising and other means during the signing and performance of the contract, with a particularly large amount, and their behavior is suspected of contract fraud. Therefore, they have filed a public prosecution in accordance with the law.
