Pre-deposited consumer pension high interest returns?
Beware of illegal fundraising to deceive the elderly
Some old people in Chengdu have become victims of the new routine pension scam. They have been cheated out of their savings for their entire lives. If they want to quit, they have to be "backed up".
Our reporter Dong Xiaohong and Yuan Qiuyue
In the midsummer, Chengdu’s heat is unbearable, and it takes a few minutes to stand under the big sun. But for Wu Qin, a 68-year-old old man from Chengdu, no matter how big the sun is outside, she still has to go out with a "three-piece suit"-small Bench, water glass, bread, and then take the bus for more than half an hour, get off at the bus stop near Vancouver Plaza in Chengdu, and walk straight into a nearby office building.
"Ding"-When the elevator reached the 10th floor, Wu Qin hurriedly got down, rushed to the corridor on the left hand side in a familiar way, and went to the door of a company. Wu Qin sighed, "There is no way to open the door!" Take out the three-piece suit, set up a small bench at the door of this company, and prepare to wait for the day as usual.
During the recent period, she often squatted here like this, "If I don't get the money, I won't look down!" Wu Qin said angrily.
Put your life savings into it in a few seconds
The company Wu Qin guards is called Sichuan Zhonghe Bainian Health Management Co., Ltd. At the door of this company, elderly people often come to ask for money.
For this reason, this company often locks the door.
The reporter learned that most of these elders who defend their rights are members of the company's old-age care services, with less than 10,000 or 20,000 recharged, and more recharged by hundreds of thousands, and most of them are between 60 and 80 years old.
Wu Qin showed reporters a list of elders who had signed their own rights, on which 21 deceived elders had been registered.
Speaking of her experience of being deceived, Wu Qin was very regretful.
“I was soaking in a hot spring in a leisure hotel around Chengdu and met a sister who was over 80 years old. She was older than me. Everyone often chatted and became familiar with each other. She highly recommended to me that there is a nursing home that is very good. , Tell me I must go and see." Wu Qin said.
Out of trust in her 80-year-old elder sister, she was indeed planning to take care of her in the future. Wu Qin replied, "It's okay to take a look." The other party called immediately and soon came 2 enthusiastic young nursing homes. The sales staff, a man and a woman, drove two people to the nursing home for field trips.
A group of people arrived at a nursing home in Tangchang Town, Pidu District, Chengdu. “I saw that the place was really beautiful, but there were only 12 rooms. There were fish ponds in the yard and a place to grow vegetables. It should be very comfortable to live in.” Wu Qin paid a 1,000 yuan deposit on the spot.
After more than half a month, on April 13 this year, the sales staff at the time called Wu Qin again, took her to the site again, and urged her to apply for a card.
Although I think the place is not bad, Wu Qin still hesitates because it is a lifetime savings.
At this time, the salesperson said: "You can upgrade to a'Diamond Member' by paying 65,000 yuan in advance. Not only can you deduct the room fee for future stays, but you can also get more than 150 days of free stay benefits within a limited time."
Wu Qin felt pretty good when she heard it, and the little sister who was selling took the opportunity to ask her how much savings she had in total.
Wu Qin said that he only had a deposit of less than 170,000 yuan, and the sales staff immediately promoted a "one-stop" package: a recharge of 100,000 yuan, repayment of principal and interest in 3 years, and annual interest return of 10,000 yuan, which is more cost-effective than depositing banks. Too much.
The sales staff also promised that the recharged 100,000 yuan can be refunded at any time.
Without giving Wu Qin time to think about it, the sales staff immediately took her to the company office on the 10th floor of the Vancouver Plaza office building in Chengdu, and took out the POS machine to urge Wu Qin to make the payment.
In order to reassure Wu Qin, he also offered two contracts.
The reporter saw that one of the additional pages of the "Residence Health Care Service Contract" had a special handwritten note: "Annual welfare subsidies are received at 10,000 (ten thousand yuan)." Underneath is Wu Qin's handwritten signature.
Another is called a "consumption contract", which is a contract for Wu Qin to pay a pre-deposited 65,000 yuan for future admission to a nursing home.
In this way, within a few seconds, Wu Qin invested all his life savings.
Only two days later, Wu Qin had not had time to enjoy any membership services. His son in Shanghai called and said that he would renovate the old house. Wu Qin remembered that there was still 100,000 yuan "saved" in this elderly care institution. , They demanded a refund in accordance with the contract.
Who knows, what is waiting for her after that is a long process of defending her rights.
Not only did he not get the money back, but he was also deceived by a chain of tricks
From April to now, Wu Qin can't remember how much money he has to pay back.
When asking for money for the first time, Wu Qin held two contracts and thought it would be easy.
"At that time, the staff on the scene said that 100,000 yuan could be refunded, of which 10,000 yuan was also used as the interest paid to me in advance this year. They wrote the receipt, called me to sign, and then asked me to go home and wait for the refund. Very much." Wu Qin said.
The staff also asked Wu Qin to return the signed contract, saying that the money would be paid when she got home.
Wu Qin didn't think much about it, so he returned it to them.
Going out of the company’s gate and preparing to enter the elevator, an elderly man came out. Wu Qin asked for a refund. Seeing that Wu Qin was empty-handed, the elderly hurriedly called her "Go and get the contract back. How many times have I been here?" I didn't even ask for any money back, so why do you ask for money if you don't have a contract!"
Only then did Wu Qin realize that he had been fooled, and for a short while, he was "crazy" and hurried back to the previous office, snatching back the contract that the staff was still holding.
What made her even more angry was that the number of times she came to ask for money not only became more and more indifferent to the former enthusiastic staff, but also pointed out a "way" for her to get the money back quickly.
"People in their company told me that they don’t get the money and they can only wait. But there is a way to pay back the money quickly, that is, let me find an elderly person to come in and apply for the card. As long as I get a new elderly customer, I You can return the money to me as soon as possible." Wu Qin was very angry when he said it, "How can it be like this! If my money is not returned, let me cheat other elderly people, this is not wicked!"
In retrospect, the 80-year-old sister who strongly recommended her to recharge her card at the time may have no choice but to embark on the road of "pull the head".
I was deceived but dare not tell my children
70-year-old Zhao Gong was also one of the deceived elders.
One day in October 2017, when he came for a walk, who lives near Vancouver Square, he ran into a person who was handing out flyers.
That person tried his best to recommend this elderly care service to him, and also took him to the "luxury" nursing home model room for field trips.
After seeing it, he thought it was okay, but at that time, he didn't have much money in his hand, so he paid 10,000 yuan "experience fee". The company also gave a tour service fee worth 398 yuan, which is to organize a free tour from time to time.
Zhao Gong took out his contract, and the reporter saw that the performance period of the contract is from October 30, 2017 to October 30, 2020. If you do not stay in a nursing home, the 10,000 yuan "experience fund" will be fully refunded when it expires.
But almost a year has passed since the contract expired, and Zhao Gong has not received a penny so far.
In the beginning, Zhao Gong asked for money every day like Wu Qin, but later encountered the pit of "recovering the contract".
"The staff said that they would definitely refund the money and asked me to hand in the contract. They wrote me a receipt, saying that this is called a'refund queue'. When their company has money, they will refund the money in the order of the queue." Zhao Gong said , The receipt was just a blank note, stamped with their company's chapter, looked very irregular, he did not agree.
After being deceived, he also came to guard many times, but every time he came out to ask for money, he could only make up a reason for his children, "Said he was going out to see friends."
The reporter found that after discovering that they were deceived, they did not dare to speak up, or even dare not tell their children, this is the common mentality of most deceived elderly people.
"The staff of this company are very aware that most of our elderly people are alone in defending their rights, and their children are not there. Anyway, they just ignore us." Wu Qin said disappointedly, starting from April, he looks like " "Begging", squatting at the door of that company.
Beware of the "explosive thunder" caused by the pension scam
In recent years, similar scams targeting the elderly in elderly care services have emerged one after another, with various methods such as prepaid recharge and high interest rates. If the crackdown is not strengthened in time, there may be many cases of late payment or mismanagement similar to companies. The life savings of many elderly people are in vain, and many elderly care service companies run away, wind up, cease operations, lose contact, etc., which may cause "explosions" in the elderly care service industry.
On May 17, the portal website of the Ministry of Civil Affairs issued a warning about the risk of illegal fund-raising in the elderly care sector: Recently, some institutions and enterprises have used "high interest and high return" as bait to implement illegal fund raising under the names of "old care service" and "healthy elderly care". Fund-raising activities absorb funds from the elderly, causing serious property losses and mental harm to the elderly, and there are major hidden risks.
Peng Ou, director of the Legal Affairs Department of the Sichuan Consumer Protection Committee, told reporters that in recent years, there have been frequent scams for elderly care services, and the deceived elderly mainly have three characteristics: First, most of the elderly are knowledgeable and educated in the city. Because they have a high degree of acceptance of nursing homes and elderly care services; second, similar companies mostly use the banners of “nursing homes” and “elder care services”. In fact, the elderly cannot live in after purchasing services; third, most elderly people have difficulty defending their rights. They have weak legal awareness and dare not tell their children that many elderly people can't even stop after being deceived.
Does the model of absorbing funds in the name of providing "healthcare and vacation services" involve illegal fund-raising?
Kou Yi, a lawyer from Beijing Yingke (Chengdu) Law Firm, believes that specific to various types of pension scams, illegal companies are attracted by the gimmick of pre-deposited consumption pensions and high interest returns under the guise of providing “ageing services” and investing in “ageing projects”. The participation of the elderly does not conform to the general characteristics of the legal relationship of "purchasing services" in the traditional sense, and is suspected of illegal fund-raising.
Attorney Kou Yi also pointed out that the contracts signed by these companies with the elderly are suspected of covering up illegal purposes in a legal form and are invalid contracts.
If these companies use fictitious facts or conceal the truth to obtain funds from the elderly for the purpose of illegal possession, they may be suspected of fraud.
The reporter learned that in 2020, the "Small City Story" elderly care project in Chengdu's Pidu District was exposed and was unable to pay the principal and interest of the elderly on schedule. The police have opened a case for investigation.
The Chengdu Municipal Public Security Bureau's Pidu District Bureau notified that the bureau has filed a case for the suspected illegal absorption of public deposits by the responsible person in accordance with the law.
Due to the large number of victims in this case, and some of them are old, in order to find out the facts of the case and crack down on crimes in accordance with the law, the police appealed to the victims to take the initiative to provide evidence of the case to the police and to register their creditor's rights with the Public Security Bureau.
(Some interviewees are pseudonyms)