One hundred yuan product allegedly cost only 4 yuan to encourage members to develop offline to earn commission.
TST suspected of MLM company responds: normal operation
"Zhang Ting Lin Ruiyang Company was investigated for suspected pyramid schemes", "TST", "Zhang Ting", and the market supervision department responded to Zhang Ting and his wife's company being investigated.... On December 29, a number of entries directly related to Zhang Ting and his wife were posted on Weibo Many netizens left a message saying “it’s long overdue to check” on the blog.
Why did netizens make such comments on the "TST" incident?
How did its business empire rise?
Event details
Large number of participants and large amount of money involved
"TST" suspected of MLM investigation
Shanghai Darwin Trading Co., Ltd. (name of the TST brand operating company) was investigated and punished by relevant departments for suspected pyramid schemes.
A few days ago, the staff of the Anti-Unfair Competition Section of the Market Supervision Administration of Yuhua District, Shijiazhuang City, Hebei Province, said that they had received a large number of reports from the public that the “TST Chamber Secret” was suspected of pyramid schemes.
After verification by the Yuhua District Municipal Supervision Bureau, it was determined that Shanghai Darwin, the parent company of "TST Chamber Secrets", was suspected of being involved in pyramid schemes.
At present, the case has entered the audit stage, that is, the financial data and background of Shanghai Darwin will be audited.
The next stage of the case involves the penalty decision and the penalty amount. The staff member is expected to take several months.
"(The case) has a long time span, a large number of participants, and a large amount of money involved." The staff of the Anti-Unfair Competition Section of the Yuhua District Municipal Supervision Bureau said that Darwin's related actions began in 2013, and according to the bureau's knowledge According to the data, nearly 10 million people have participated.
A reporter from Beijing Youth Daily learned that the company was founded in 2013 by Zhang Ting and Lin Ruiyang. The legal representative is Lin Jirong (Lin Ruiyang), which focuses on cosmetics and skin care products.
Zhang Ting and his wife have repeatedly promoted the product in public.
In 2019, it was reported that its company taxed 2.1 billion yuan, and its official website even declared, "The cumulative sales of the company’s product TST live yeast exceeds 100 million bottles, and TST has 6.36 million agents."
Netizens exposed
The cost of a hundred yuan product was alleged to be only 4 yuan
The active ingredients of the product are questioned
In 2013, Zhang Ting and Lin Ruiyang founded TST, whose full name is "TIN'SECRET", which is also "the secret of the court."
Zhang Ting became the spokesperson of his own brand.
As early as 2016, many consumers reported that after using TST live yeast, they experienced acne, redness, peeling, and even swelling. Some consumers were diagnosed with skin inflammation after seeing a doctor.
In February 2016, Weibo named "Happy Zhou Yaya" posted a post on Weibo stating that after using TST products continuously for three months and using other skin care products without adulteration, the facial skin was rough, peeling, Blushing, running yellow water, eyes can't open.
However, TST staff replied that the skin was "detoxifying".
Four months later, TST issued another announcement stating that the skin of "Happy Zhou Yaya" has been restored to health and beauty with the help of the company.
But then, "Happy Zhou Yaya" posted a retort on Weibo, saying that his skin was repaired with the help of a doctor and had nothing to do with TST. Some of the photos used in the TST announcement were secretly taken.
At that time, Zhang Ting once issued a response stating that the TST facial mask he was operating was in compliance with laws and regulations and had all three certificates. He also invited a professional third-party inspection and quarantine agency to conduct hygiene and safety tests and acute skin irritation tests to ensure product safety.
However, in the "domestic non-special use cosmetics registration", during 2015-2016, dozens of products such as TST anti-age series and edelweiss series produced by Darwin were issued with the inspection results of "ordered to correct".
A reporter from Beiqing Daily inquired about the Black Cat platform and found that in September 2021, there were also consumer complaints that they had skin irritation, redness and swelling after only 5 days of using the brand's products.
In addition, according to the domestic non-special use/special use cosmetics registration query information, the products of "TST Court Secret" have been used by many companies such as Qiya Daily Chemicals (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., Carlyle Cosmetics Co., Ltd., and Shanghai Yidai Cosmetics Co., Ltd. Entrusted production.
A few days ago, a TST agent told the media that the price of more than 100 facial masks on the e-commerce platform TST is only 4 yuan.
The formulator Jiang Xiaozi, who is certified as a professional master of cosmetics and is a popular science author of Doctor Lilac in Xiaohongshu, issued an article saying that the main products of the TST brand are live yeast series skin care products, but the industry clearly stipulates that live probiotics cannot be added to cosmetics because of the addition This ingredient is not effective in antiseptic, and may cause other microbial pollution to irritate the skin.
Not only that, the "collagen resilience" claimed by TST products is just an illusion created by thickeners (modified corn starch) and skin feel modifiers (carbomer).
Another blogger said that a new facial mask from TST, which is known to be whitening, is added with high content of titanium dioxide. The so-called whitening is only fake white.
Business model
Recruitment agent for zero stocking
Encourage the development of offline earning commission
According to some netizens broke the news, TST played the banner of zero investment, zero stocking, and zero risk, recruiting agents, and known as "teaching agents step by step to become micro-business experts in the circle of friends."
At present, on the official website of TST, there is also a slogan of "One-click sharing and earning non-stop".
A reporter from Beijing Youth Daily noted that online information showed that TST had a red card bonus system in 2020.
According to a person who once worked as an agent for his company broke the news.
TST company divides the agency into "blue card" and "red card".
Blue card agents are those who do not have the qualifications to issue cards, and Hongkara people have commissions.
But to open the card, you need to buy a product of 2500 yuan first.
It adopts the model of first-sales and then-purchase, and according to the different levels of agents (judging by the performance of each natural month), sales discounts, discount difference bonuses, and promotion service fees are given.
In order to obtain lower prices and generate greater profits, and to make the products marketable, each level of agents can only continue to stock up and develop offline.
This model, in the view of the "Li Xu anti-fraud anti-fraud team" who revealed that Shanghai Darwin Trading Co., Ltd. was investigated for MLM involvement, it has already touched the legal red line.
Li Xu said that MLM generally has three characteristics: there is an entry fee, a certain fee is required, or a certain product is subscribed, and the entry qualification is obtained, which is a disguised entry fee; pull heads, develop a relationship between online and offline, and form a team; team compensation , Directly or indirectly pay money based on the number of people developed and sales performance.
Latest News
9 related companies cancelled
Established less than one year
Regarding the suspected use of the Internet to engage in MLM activities and was filed for investigation, on December 29, TST’s official WeChat response stated that it is a legally operating company, “since its establishment, it has always followed the government’s guidance, adhered to legal operations, and paid taxes in accordance with the law. The operation of the company is normal, and our company will actively cooperate with relevant departments."
According to the company's information, Zhang Ting owns 90 affiliated companies.
His husband Lin Ruiyang owns more than 50 affiliated companies.
However, on September 8 this year, nine companies with Zhang Ting as the legal representative, executive director and general manager cancelled, including Shanghai Haoguang Biotechnology Co., Ltd., Shanghai Shipping Fan Enterprise Management Co., Ltd., and Shanghai Zhenhai Information Technology Co., Ltd. The company, Shanghai Mingli Enterprise Management Co., Ltd., etc., were cancelled due to resolutions to dissolve.
These 9 companies were all established in 2021 with a registered capital of 45 million yuan.
The People’s Daily commentator said in a micro-post: “The nature of the case and the determination of responsibility need to wait for the results of the investigation. The resulting public’s heated discussion on the phenomenon of network MLM also reminds people to be vigilant in the name of e-commerce, micro-commerce, etc. The new type of pyramid schemes carried out. The rule of law society cannot tolerate the'secrets' of illegal drilling; the umbrella of the law only protects the operations that comply with the law." Wen / reporter Zhang Xin Coordination / Yu Meiying