Vinh City residents 'accuse' a group of fraudulent sales people of giving gifts and appropriating money

Sales team scam

Late in the afternoon of August 3, Ms. D.TT, residing in Quang Trung block, Vinh Tan ward (Vinh city), said that she and two other residents in the same block had just been scammed by a group of people who bought goods for tens of millions of dong. Specifically, Ms. D.TT said that on the afternoon of August 2, Ms. MTT, who is nearly 70 years old, was given a blue plastic-coated paper card by a friend in Trung Do ward, with the words "Gift card" written on it, along with an invitation stating that on the morning of August 3, 2022, she would come to PH Hotel in Trung Do ward (Vinh city) to receive free gifts.

Invitations given by the sales group to Ms. D.TT and many residents of Vinh City. Photo: Provided by residents.

According to the time stated in the invitation, Ms. T. went from Vinh Tan ward to PH hotel in Trung Do ward with the "Gift card" in the hope of receiving a free gift.

Seeing that Mrs. T. said she was going to receive a gift, Ms. D.TT also followed. Arriving at the PH Hotel hall at around 7:30 a.m. on the morning of August 3, Ms. D.TT saw about 200 people gathered there, mostly elderly people, older women, almost no young people. This group of about 10 people, claiming to be from a large company, including 9 men and 1 woman, came by a 16-seat passenger van with license plate 29B - 404.07.

Images of "Gift Cards" and the vehicle carrying the group of sellers in Trung Do ward were taken by local residents.

This group of people introduced this as a gift-giving and product introduction conference of the company that is about to be launched on the market; only "giving gifts without taking money is to ask you guys later when the company's products are sold in big supermarkets, you will know how to use and advertise this good product to help the company".

After that, the subjects sold to people items such as: a bottle of dishwashing liquid for 10,000 VND, a package of seasoning powder for 200,000 VND, a jar of herbal medicine for 750,000 VND... After selling to people, this group of sellers returned the exact amount of money people had spent on those products.

The group of sellers sold low-priced products to Ms. D.TT's relatives and many people in Vinh City and returned the money (called gifts equal to the value of the purchased goods) to trick people into buying more expensive items. Photo provided by the people.

Next, to strengthen people's trust and appeal to their gift-giving mentality, this group introduced pressure cookers and rice cookers, both priced at 3.6 million VND per product. They chose 4 people sitting in the front row to sell 4 rice cookers with removable lids, the brand name of the rice cookers was similar to the name of a famous Korean electronics company, each pot costing 3.6 million VND. After these 4 people bought them, they gave them gifts, with the main gift being an amount of money equal to the value of the pot they bought, which was 3.6 million VND.

By doing this, along with the sweet words that the group, whoever buys the products, will be given a gift equal to the value of the purchased products, and the group's only purpose is to promote the products and not sell them for money, makes everyone present in the hall believe that if they buy the products, they will also be given a gift, and will be able to bring home high-quality products without spending money.

Then, using the excuse that the product quantity is limited, anyone who wants to receive a gift must register on the voucher they distribute at the introduction, and do not forget to remind them "must write down their phone number to be able to buy the product, because the company must have a phone number to issue a warranty for the product. Anyone who does not have a phone number on the voucher, even if they buy 10 million for a product, the group will not sell it".

Next, this group launched the "trick" of depositing money for goods. They used the excuse that many people coming here certainly did not bring enough 3.6 million VND, so whoever has enough money should buy goods in the morning and at the "golden hour" of 12 noon, the company will give back the amount of gifts equal to the value of the purchased goods. Those who have not brought enough money should deposit 100,000 VND each, and at the "golden hour" of 12 noon, remember to bring enough 3.5 million VND to buy goods and receive gifts. Those who buy non-stick pans but do not have enough money should deposit 50,000 VND in advance.

An old woman in Vinh City bought rice cookers, pressure cookers and non-stick pans for more than 7.7 million VND but did not receive any gifts as promised by the group. Photo: Provided by local people

With the method of selling first and giving gifts later, they introduced and sold to many Vinh City residents gathered at PH Hotel the products such as rice cookers for 3.6 million VND, pressure cookers for 3.6 million VND, and non-stick pans for 550,000 VND. After introducing the products from 7:30 am to 10:00 am, this group ended the sale and made an appointment for people to give out gifts at 12 noon, the "golden hour". From 12 noon to 1:30 pm in the afternoon, dozens of people spent from 4 million VND to more than 10 million VND to buy the products such as rice cookers, pressure cookers, and non-stick pans of this group.

According to Ms. D.TT, at around 1:00 p.m. on August 3, a relative of hers spent more than 8 million VND to buy a pressure cooker, a rice cooker, a non-stick pan, and a jar of herbal medicine. He was not satisfied with the product and expressed that he did not want to buy it anymore. He asked to return the goods and get his money back, but the group started to deny it.

While a member of the sales team was arguing with Ms. D.TT's relative about returning the goods, Ms. D.TT noticed that the car carrying this group was starting its engine and backing up close to the exit, to one side of the hotel hall. Ms. D.TT suspected that this group was planning to escape, so she shouted for everyone to stop the car. When hearing Ms. D.TT's shout, the entire sales team quickly jumped into the passenger bus that was waiting with its engine running, then the car drove out of the hotel door.

Many Vinh City residents participated in purchasing products from the sales group at PH Hotel on the morning and afternoon of August 3, 2022. Photo provided by residents

Ms. D.TT and her relatives who were standing near the car chased after it, holding onto the front mirror of the car, but the group deliberately swerved, forcing the two to let go. Ms. D.TT's relative, Ms. T., was also knocked down by the group and suffered minor scratches on her left arm.

Lost money on the purchase but didn't dare bring it home

Ms. D.TT said that at the time the sales group got on the car and ran away, except for the first 4 people who received gifts by returning the money they had bought, no one else had received their "gifts" yet, even though dozens of people had spent from 3 million to 8 million VND to buy the products. In addition, many other people spent 150,000 VND to buy gift vouchers to win a lucky draw, but before they could draw a lot, nor were they given any gifts, the sales group had already run away.

After the sales team ran away, the customers, mostly old men and women, sadly hugged the goods that not long before were advertised by the sales team as “high-end goods soon to be sold in big supermarkets, with warranty…”.

Ms. MTT in Vinh Tan ward, after spending 3.6 million VND to buy a rice cooker, before receiving the gift, the group ran away, Ms. T. realized she had been scammed. She felt heartbroken because the 3.6 million VND she had saved up for a long time, not daring to spend, had now been spent to buy a product that was far inferior to the rice cooker that she had been using for a long time, costing less than 1 million VND. In addition to losing money, Ms. T. also felt ashamed and did not dare to bring the rice cooker she had bought home for fear that her children and grandchildren would laugh at her for being gullible and letting the sales group scam her, so she took the rice cooker she had bought to a neighbor's house.

Not only did they cheat people out of their deposits and gifts, according to Ms. D.TT, this sales group also controlled people's filming and photography. All actions of people using their phones were reminded by them not to film or take pictures for product security reasons, because this was a product about to be launched on the market and should not be revealed to competitors. Ms. D.TT intentionally used her phone to take pictures in the hall, but was immediately asked by the sales group to delete the pictures, and they had to delete them themselves.

The "high-quality" products that the group will give as gifts will be sold to people for 3.6 million VND each and non-stick pans for 550,000 VND each. Photo provided by people

“After that, I went to the restroom to call my relatives. When I got up to leave, a young man in the group immediately followed me and asked where I was going. I replied that I was going to the restroom. He didn’t say anything, but followed me and stood guard outside the restroom door. I went to the restroom, called my relatives for help, then turned on the phone’s recording button, put the phone in my pocket, and sat outside, listening to their advertisements,” said Ms. D.TT. The images Ms. D.TT filmed and took were because before being forced to delete them, she had managed to send them to her relatives via the Facebook app.

“I really hope that local authorities and relevant agencies will take timely measures to intervene, protect consumer rights, and help us avoid being tricked into buying substandard products like my relatives and many others in Vinh City have just been tricked,” said Ms. D.TT.

Ms. D.TT reported to local authorities that she and some other people were tricked into buying goods and losing their deposits.

Websites and comments from local people reflect on the situation of fraudulent sales groups appropriating people's money. Photo: PV

In addition to the incident where many people in Vinh City were tricked into buying products at high prices by a group of sellers on August 3, recently, we have also received many reports via social networking sites from people in Thanh Chuong, Do Luong, and Yen Thanh districts about many people being tricked into buying products at unusually high prices using similar tricks.

Therefore, before the authorities take measures to handle the situation according to the provisions of the law, each citizen should raise their vigilance and remind their relatives and acquaintances not to listen to the enticement of receiving gifts when buying goods from individuals or groups selling goods of unknown identity, goods of unknown origin and quality... to avoid being scammed like the above cases.

Legal Reporters Group