Celebrity platforms, scammers are rampant

These days, liars are not scary.

The terrible thing is that celebrities are used as fishhooks by scammers.

What’s even more frightening is that scammers and celebrities have teamed up to take the bait from investors.

1

"Wang Han, return my hard-earned money!"

A few days ago, there was A large number of investors pulled down banners online and posted on Weibo to ask for explanation from Wang Han, the first brother of Hunan Taiwan.

The trigger of the incident was not that Wang Han was cutting leeks in the capital market like his friend Zhao Wei, but that the lending platform "Aiqianjin" he endorsed was hit by a thunderstorm, with 370,000 People were defrauded of 23 billion yuan.

Investors had no way to appeal and directed their anger at the spokesperson.

As the bombardment intensified, Wang Han finally apologized, admitting that his endorsement cooperation with "Aiqianjin" had ended in 2018, but promised to follow up on the matter.

In other words, the time when "Ai Qian Jin" was hit was not during Wang Han's endorsement period. At present, the opinions of various parties are not consistent on whether and what kind of responsibility Wang Han bears.

If Wang Han was criticized because of the pit he had stepped into earlier, then it seems inexplicable that Lao Ganma was accused.

Lao Ganma, who never advertises and speaks for herself, was recently taken to court by Tencent because of arrears of tens of millions of advertising fees.

However, after Lao Ganma decisively called the police, the police discovered that the people who signed the advertising contract with Tencent were a group of scammers who used fake seals.

She was slandered and had to help others report the crime, which made Lao Ganma feel tired.

On the contrary, "Nanshan Pizza Hut" was very smart when persuading people to top up money, but this time they didn't realize that the other party was a "scammer".

But in fact, it really needs the fire of public opinion. Unlike Wang Han, the person working on the project platform in this fraud case still wanted to speak for him even though he knew it was a fraud. Seeking profit maliciously will make you look ugly.

In the early morning of June 19, a large number of FBI police officers and their agents suddenly surrounded a house in Arcadia, San Gabriel Valley, Los Angeles, and then arrested a Chinese-American Woman arrested.

Dawn pierces the darkness, arrests reveal the truth. The woman, Shi Ruixue, is the president of real estate brokerage Wanguo Land. She was arrested on suspicion of defrauding and misappropriating US$21.6 million from Chinese investors in the name of hotel apartment project development.

As soon as the news came out, a large number of domestic investors who had been defrauded applauded. Although it is still unknown whether the defrauded funds can be recovered, at least the bad breath can be vented.

However, when they thought about how Lang Xianping, Gao Xiaosong and other people on the platform who had "tempted" them to disembark were still chatting and laughing, they clenched their fists again.

2

This group of investors fell into the IWC Land scam, a history of blood and tears a few years ago.

Founded in 2013, Wanguo Land bills itself as "China's first and only overseas real estate trading center."

Of course, using these fancy names is just packaging for your own scam.

In fact, the full name of Wanguo Land is Wanguo Land Real Estate Brokerage Co., Ltd., which is an ordinary real estate brokerage that sells overseas real estate.

Between 2015 and 2018, Wanguo Land began to recruit investors from China in the name of investing in and developing the Palm Springs project in Los Angeles.

In Shi Ruixue's glitzy description, the Palm Springs project is located in Los Angeles, USA, and is divided into phases one and two. The total amount of the first-phase apartment project is approximately more than 400,000 US dollars. After investors make a 40% down payment, the remaining 60% can be loaned. The total value of each apartment in the second phase is approximately US$500,000.

In addition, Wanguo Land also announced that it will lease the project for 20 years, with a monthly fixed income of 1% of the total house price, equivalent to an annual return rate of 12%. Twenty years later, Wanguo Land repurchased it at the original price.

Many Chinese investors are ignorant and have no idea about real estate investment in the United States. They only focus on the 12% annual rate of return and wish they could lose twenty years of investment. Cash out the rent in advance and put it into your pocket.

In fact, in most areas of Los Angeles, the rental investment yield is mostly 4 to 5%, and rarely exceeds 10%.

Accountant Jia, who recently went bankrupt and reorganized successfully, is the best at input-output. When he bought several luxury houses in Los Angeles, he probably didn't dare to expect a 12% rate of return.

In addition, Shi Ruixue is also confident that this investment will enable investors to obtain the EB-5 investment immigration green card.

Friends who are familiar with immigration policies know that obtaining an EB-5 investment immigration green card requires more than simply investing US$400,000 in real estate.

Buying a house and getting a green card doesn’t sound as practical as buying a house and getting a shopping card.

According to IWC’s publicity, the Palm Springs project started in April 2016. The first phase of customers began to return rents on January 1, 2017, and the second phase of customers began to return rents. Rent rebates will begin in July 2017.

As a result, the Palm Springs project Shi Ruixue mentioned has not started construction at all, Wanguo Real Estate has not obtained the government approval required for project development, and many investors have not received it at all. So-called rental income.

When domestic investors were on the verge of tears, Shi Ruixue used their money to enjoy themselves - spending US$2.2 million on travel and US$295,000 on purchases. Two Mercedes-Benz cars and hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on expensive clothes and hotel stays.

Unfortunately, the good times did not last long. Now Shi Ruixue has been arrested. If convicted, she will face up to 20 years in prison.

What is puzzling is that with only one picture at the beginning and all the rest made up, why was Shi Ruixue able to defraud more than 20 million US dollars from Chinese investors?

Celebrity endorsement is undoubtedly the biggest bait.

3

In November 2016, at the 16th master forum event of Wanguo Land, Lang Xianping in a suit and leather shoes came on stage, and the spotlight was on the audience. They all lighted up.

Professor Lang is always confident on the stage, talking about the impact that Trump has had on the global economy after taking office, as well as the situation of domestic real estate regulation.

A large number of spectators in the audience cast admiring glances.

After talking a lot, Professor Lang suddenly changed the topic and emphasized that overseas asset allocation is imminent, and then took advantage of the trend to invest in the palm project of Wanguo Land Brought a wave of advertising.

Professor Lang can be called the "cancer in the platform world". He has stood up many times, overturned many times, suffered repeated defeats, and his spirit is commendable. Wanguo Land dared to invite Professor Lang, and its courage is quite commendable.

In addition to Professor Lang, IWC also invited many domestic big-name cultural celebrities and scholars to serve as its platform in the early stage, including Gao Xiaosong, Hurun and other celebrities.

Compared with Professor Lang’s serious and blunt advertising, Gao Xiaosong obviously knows how to give full play to his own advantages and characteristics.

In November 2016, in the keynote speech of "IWC Land and His Friends", Gao Xiaosong used his usual talk show skills to learn from the humanistic characteristics of Texas, USA , local customs, strange things, and all the way to the investment hotspots in Texas. At this time, Wanguo Land took the opportunity to quickly promote its "Houston Golden Oak Villa Community" project in Texas.

I have to say that this wave of soft advertising is very "Xiaosong".

In fact, as early as 2016, domestic media reported that China Land was suspected of fraud. It is impossible for Lang and Gao not to be aware of it, but they still support Wanguo Land. It is difficult to say that the current losses to investors have nothing to do with them.

It may feel that the words of the two big names are not convincing enough. Afterwards, Wanguo Land invited Hurun, the founder of the Hurun Ranking, to customize it for itself. A set of "industry certifications."

On January 15, 2017, Hurun Report and IWC Land jointly released the "2017 Outlook for Overseas Property Purchases by Chinese High-Net-Worth Customers" (also known as "IWC Land Global Real Estate Investment") white paper").

After reading it carefully, this white paper is actually an advertising copy to guide domestic investors to choose Wanguo Land. You should know that the white paper was released on January 15, 2017, and Wanguo Land has failed to fulfill its promise to distribute income on January 1. Hurun still helps its promotion, and its behavior is extremely bad.

The overwhelming publicity and promotion has captivated the hearts of domestic investors and strengthened their determination to take the bait. Judging from the interviews with the investors who were exposed as victims, many investors were attracted by the high returns and chose Wanguo Land under the guidance of several celebrities.

Interestingly, under the trend of many business leaders personally endorsing products, Shi Ruixue has also joined the ranks.

In a certain program, Shi Ruixue and Hu Run, as well as Lang Xianping’s old friends Wang Mudi and Wang Fuzhong (the three of them collaborated on "Financial Eyes") sat on the floor, talking loudly. Talk about the global real estate economy.

It looks like this is a program, but it is actually an advertising drama for IWC Land, and it is quite exaggerated and lame.

As soon as Shi Ruixue came up, she brought the topic to real estate, and by the way, she hurt Chinese aunts and diaosi:

Gold is the most valuable thing for Chinese aunts. Love is unreliable. Deposits are the favorite of Chinese diaosi, whoever likes them can take them. Houses, freehold property rights, and inheritance from time to time are the only magic weapons to get on the wealth list.

Wang Mudi, who was standing next to him, responded in a pretentious manner:

But the domestic real estate market is in a severe downturn.

Shi Ruixue immediately said, "That's domestic. There are so many choices overseas." Then, she began to analyze the real estate market in various regions around the world, but all of them revolved around her overseas projects.

Wang Fuzhong on the other side was more straightforward and simply shouted:

Just go to Wanguo Land.

At the end of the program, Wang Madi asked, who will be the richest man in the future?

Shi Ruixue smiled evilly and said:

Wang Jianlin, born in 1954, is the richest man in real estate in China. Jack Ma, born in 1964, is the second richest man in China’s Internet industry. Now he has a company whose female boss was born in 1984. She advocates overseas real estate investment. She is the next richest man in the world.

The old man said that he had never seen such a shameless person.

I don’t know if Shi Ruixue remembered that he was still the future richest man in China when he was arrested by the FBI police and handcuffed.

4

In recent years, similar to the IWC Land case, there have been many cases of celebrities defrauding corporate websites.

In September 2015, five female celebrities, Tang Yan, Li Xiang, Qu Ying, Zhong Liti, and Hu Jing, promoted the loan project of "Muse Era". In the end, the platform was illegal More than 50 billion in funds raised were seized.

In February 2016, Zhang Tielin endorsed a P2P platform. Later, it was revealed that the platform was in a 1.9 billion redemption crisis, involving more than 5,000 investors.

In these cases, it is difficult to determine whether celebrities bear legal responsibility. Some lawyers said that for advertisements of non-life and health-related products, spokespersons may be held liable only if they do not use the products themselves or know they are false.

Of course, as public figures, celebrities still need to be cautious in their endorsements if they cannot guarantee whether the product is a scam. Although the sky-high advertising fees are tempting, you still have to ask your conscience whether your endorsement can protect the rights and interests of consumers.

Today, there are three major taboos in the entertainment industry: do not accept Master Kong advertisements, do not act with Yang Ying, and do not seek endorsements from Jackie Chan. After suffering the "endorsement storm", Jackie Chan had already fainted in the toilet from crying.

But to be honest, in many cases investors have been deceived, and the celebrity platform in the entertainment industry does not actually play a decisive role.

On the contrary, Lang Xianping, Gao Xiaosong and other celebrities who are in the public circle are the biggest scandals.

When many investors choose an investment, their first consideration must be high returns, followed by factors such as the spokesperson effect.

When the spokesperson is a celebrity in the entertainment industry, they mostly play a role in shaping the brand image and have little impact on investors' investment decisions.

However, when celebrities in public circles like Lang and Gao use their knowledge to fool investors, they often play a key role in investors' investment decisions.

In China, many small and medium-sized investors are blind and follow the herd. On the one hand, it only sees high returns, on the other hand, it only sees public knowledge. So, he fell into the pit.

5

The most terrifying thing these days is when scammers and celebrities join forces.

The most frightening thing is that this celebrity is still a cultural figure in the public circle.