Beware of scams using product introductions

The trick of defrauding, selling fake and poor quality goods disguised as seminars, introducing products with promotional gifts to entice people to buy is not a new trick. However, this scam has continued to recur in some localities in the province recently. The subjects often target the elderly and gullible women to defraud, causing public outrage.

Beware of scams using product introductions — **Prosecutors of Duy Tien Town People's Procuracy took statements from subjects who committed fraud and property appropriation in the form of "Customer gratitude and gift giving".**

Recently, a group of scammers under the sophisticated trick of holding a seminar to sell products and give gifts of gratitude was dismantled by the Duy Tien town police force, arresting 15 subjects. According to the initial investigation results, on May 7-8 at Bao Son hotel (in Duy Hai ward, Duy Tien town), taking advantage of the trust of the people, Pham Van Dong (born in 1985, residing in Ninh Binh city, Ninh Binh province) and his accomplices rented Bao Son hotel to organize a seminar, express gratitude to customers, and give gifts to profit and appropriate people's property.

The scamming methods of this group of subjects were extremely sophisticated. They printed out greeting cards and flyers and distributed them to many households in Duy Hai ward and neighboring areas, inviting them to the hotel to attend a party called "Customer Appreciation". Their targets were the elderly and middle-aged women. When people came to the party, they initially gave gifts, such as bowls, stainless steel shelves, and plates without taking money. This group even gave away some other unadvertised products of higher value, such as blenders and frying pans, to some people at the conference, with the condition that they had to deposit 50-100 thousand VND.

True to its name, the “Gratitude Party” was a scam that anyone who received a gift would get their money back. However, according to the investigation agency, this was actually a scam set up by the subjects, aiming to profit and appropriate people’s property. The trick of this group was to take advantage of people’s gullibility and trust. Initially, they gave away worthless items. After people trusted them and spent millions of dong to buy the products, some of the subjects who collected the money in the group ran away.

The entire process of organizing the seminar was monitored by the authorities. Waiting for the moment when the group of people collecting money escaped to a 16-seat car waiting outside, the police raided and arrested them. Through the actual inspection of the authorities, the subjects listed the price of a rice cooker advertised as having the function of separating sugar and reducing fat at 4.6 million VND. The blender cost 3.1 million VND. However, according to the import invoice provided by this group, each product only cost a few hundred thousand VND. All of the seized goods were floating, poor quality and unknown manufacturing units. According to the investigation documents, in just one afternoon of selling, this group collected more than 800 million VND from seminar participants.

Lieutenant Colonel Bui Quang Phuc, Captain of the Economic and Drug Crime Investigation Police Team, Duy Tien Town Police, said: The form and methods of operation of this group of subjects are extremely sophisticated and professional. To carry out this act, the subjects discussed and agreed with each other very carefully, selected subjects to scam, preyed on people's greed, thinking that coming would give them money and products, so people need to be extremely vigilant and cautious. Currently, the police have arrested 15 subjects for investigation and clarification.

Through our understanding of reality, we know that the trick of fraud, selling fake and poor quality counterfeit goods disguised as seminars, introducing products with promotional gifts to entice people to buy goods is also taking place in some localities in the province. The method of this group of subjects is that they proactively contact the authorities of some localities to rent or borrow the halls of commune, town, village cultural houses, stadiums to organize product introductions, sales, organize seminars combined with sales. Some subjects also rent houses in some households with large areas, places with a large concentration of people passing by to organize. When renting houses from people, this group of subjects often takes advantage of the acquaintance of the homeowner to send invitations to families in the residential area to participate in the program. The subjects they target are the elderly and middle-aged women in rural areas.

To create trust and entice people to buy, the sellers used the trick of giving gifts of essential items, such as sugar, MSG, cooking oil, fish sauce, etc. After giving gifts, this group of people started to offer products of higher value, such as gas stoves, rice cookers, electric fans, pots, pans, etc. with values ranging from 500,000 VND to 3 million VND. With the mentality of trusting that when buying goods, they would be refunded the exact amount of money spent, many people gave millions to the group of subjects to buy poor quality household products, while the scammers had already "run away".

It can be said that the trick of defrauding, selling fake and poor quality goods disguised as seminars, introducing products with promotional gifts to lure buyers is not a new trick. Authorities and the press have repeatedly warned about this situation, but there are still many gullible people who, because of greed, are deceived by this disguised and transformed business form. Buying poor quality products not only wastes money, causing economic losses to individuals, but when used, it can affect the health of consumers. In fact, many families have quarreled and disagreed because of buying high-value products at seminars.

To prevent this situation, it is necessary for local authorities and functional agencies to continue to tighten and control the activities of business units and groups that come to advertise, market, open seminars, and sell goods under the guise of disguise. The police force needs to strengthen its grasp of the situation, inspect, and promptly prevent the number of subjects coming to the locality to commit fraudulent sales acts. And above all, each citizen needs to be vigilant against this trick. When detecting subjects showing signs of fraud, it is necessary to immediately report to local authorities to prevent and promptly handle violations.

Tran Ich

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