Longgang police recently busted a ring involved in car loan scams and 26 suspects were criminally detained.
So far, more than 40 people had been cheated in more than 100 million yuan (US$15.75) worth of contracts in the car loan scam.
In February, a resident surnamed Zeng called Longgang police saying that he had purchased an Audi A4L by signing a zero-down payment contract with a car dealer in Henggang. With the help of the car dealership, Zeng got two loans, but the lender withheld 80,000 yuan as the loan’s interest. When Zeng went to pick up the car, he found the car dealership had changed its location and the salesperson couldn’t be reached by phone.
After a two-month investigation, police found that the boss behind the lending company and the car dealership was the same person. The two companies were a criminal ring profiting through contract and loan scams.
If a customer wanted to buy a car using a mortgage, the car company would help the buyer get a loan from the lending company, according to the police. The lending company would sign blank contracts with the borrower before using different excuses for failing to give the buyer the full amount of the loans, police said, adding that the lender would also deduct a certain amount from the loans as interest. In the end, the loan wasn’t even sufficient to buy the car. Even if the buyer could make up for the withheld loans in order to get the car, the dealership would still forcibly drive the car away using excuses such as that the GPS system wasn’t working well. The car dealership would require the buyer to pay the loans back if they wanted the car.
On April 25, police detained 61 suspects and busted seven dens in a coordinated action in Longgang, Luohu, Bao’an and Longhua.
So far this year, Longgang police have busted three similar rings involved in loan and contract scams.
According to police, these fraud tactics are deceptive because the fraudsters generally disguise themselves as legal companies. During the deception, the ring members will deliberately create evidence in their favor.