New pickpocketing trick appears from people disguised as businesses

(Baonghean.vn) - Using the trick of "introducing products", people hiding behind businesses are pickpocketing people.mountain people

Strangers in the village

People of Lien Dinh village, Chi Khe commune (Con Cuong) received LED light bulbs from employees of GDVN company. Photo: Ho Phuong

On the morning of April 17, 2017, a group of people appeared in Chi Khe commune (Con Cuong - Nghe An). They brought with them products such as pressure cookers, kitchen knives, rechargeable LED bulbs and some other household items. It is worth mentioning that the brands of these items were completely unfamiliar to the people in the villages that this group of people brought.

Two days before, many people in Nam Dinh and Lien Dinh villages were given invitations by the village management board to "attend the conference" of the company. However, the invitations did not have the address of the business nor the name and signature of the inviter. The invitations did not forget to mention the "bargains" that participants would receive, which were an LED light bulb worth 70,000 VND and the "opportunity" to receive gifts worth 200,000 VND, 300,000 VND. This has influenced the psychology of many people with the thought of "just come and try it out".

Early in the morning, about 30 people from Nam Dinh village gathered at the village cultural house. A 12-seat car with license plate number 16H - 3690 appeared. However, strangely, just a few minutes after handing out light bulbs to the participants of the "conference", a group of people from this company quickly got in the car and left for unknown reasons.

About half a kilometer away, another group held a "conference" to introduce products at the Lien Dinh Village Cultural House. The group of people, both men and women in white uniforms, also claimed to be employees of the Vietnam Household Appliances Production and Trading Joint Stock Company (We will temporarily call it GDVN Company). We could not verify the information because, apart from the white uniforms, there was no indication that they were representatives of a business coming to introduce products. Suspecting that this was an illegal sales activity, a method that has been carried out by many groups of people in different rural areas, including Chi Khe commune, which Nghe An Newspaper has reported on many times, the group of reporters decided to approach to find out.

In a seemingly memorized introduction script, the group handed out a small blue card with a heart printed on it and white text that read: “Loving Heart 2”. Then, in front of about 50 people, the group “demonstrated” the sharpness of Korean-made kitchen knives, and a multi-purpose pot that could cook rice, boil chicken, and steam sweet potatoes. During the product introduction, they directly cooked and invited those present to taste dishes such as boiled chicken, steamed sweet potatoes, and rice. During the product introduction, the host did not forget to remind that the price of each knife was 155,000 VND, and the multi-purpose pot set was 2,750,000 VND. However, during the product introduction, they managed to sell 5 knives for 100,000 VND each. This group explained that this is a “company” that gives a limited number of customers a discount when introducing a product.

Noticing the presence of the group of reporters, a man in the group came to ask us “not to film or take pictures”. A moment later, these people stopped the product introduction with the reason “if we introduce all 11 products we brought, it will take until 12 noon to finish”. They got into a 7-seat car with license plate: 29T - 4577 and quickly left the area.

Expanding the investigation, the reporter team learned that on April 15, in Yen Khe commune (Con Cuong), two groups of people with similar behaviors appeared. However, in To village, Tan Huong and Nua village, Yen Khe commune, dozens of people bought kitchenware from a group of people claiming to be employees of Son Ha company (unknown origin).

GDVN Company employees are introducing products to people in Lien Dinh village, Chi Khe commune, Con Cuong district. Photo: Huu Vi

In To village, Yen Khe commune, Ms. Vi Thi Lan, 77 years old, one of three buyers of a group of people traveling on a vehicle described as looking like a postal parcel delivery vehicle (matchbox vehicle), said: This group includes 1 man, 1 woman. They worked with the commune and village authorities to operate in the area. Those who attended the "conference" at the village cultural house were also given a rechargeable LED lamp. After listening to these two people introduce the products, Ms. Lan and 2 others bought household appliances such as knives, OSAKA brand electric pans, WITFORD USA brand non-stick pans, 1 Korean kitchen knife, 1 power outlet for a total of 1,150,000 VND. According to Ms. Lan, initially the sellers quoted a price of 1,950,000 VND for the above household appliances. But because they were going to "introduce the products", they gave priority to discount for buyers.

From the information on the brands, the reporter team found out on reputable e-commerce sites such as vatgia.com, lazada.vn that the total value of these items is only over 600,000 VND. The price of the OSAKA household pan on lazada.vn alone is 390,000 VND. But the sales team told Ms. Lan that its actual price was over 1 million VND. After knowing the listed price online of these items, Ms. Lan and her family were surprised. "Maybe they cheated her out of her money" - the old woman said disappointedly.

In Tan Huong village, Yen Khe commune, Mr. Vi Van Trang, a village police officer, said: Also on April 15, 2017, 11 people bought goods from people claiming to be employees of a company named Son Ha. The household appliances they sold were of the same type and model as the ones Ms. Vi Thi Lan bought.

Invitations to "attend the conference" issued by GDVN Company to households in Nam Dinh and Lien Dinh villages, Chi Khe commune, Con Cuong district. Photo: Ho Phuong

Mr. Vi Van Trang said: There are also people who doubt the selling price of the products, so he also went online to consult. "The online price of a set of Korean knives is only a few tens of thousands, but they sell 200,000 VND for just one knife. 3 LED lights are only 65,000 VND, but they sell one for 40,000 VND" - Mr. Trang shared.

Mr. Trang also said that he had warned people to be careful, but many people were still fooled by the sales group's tone. "I can't talk back to the village," Mr. Trang said dejectedly.

The government is also "fooled"?

Information from the local government said that in recent days, they only signed and made a record for 1 company (GDVN Company) to introduce products in the district. They allowed businesses to introduce registered products. However, it seems that more than 1 company is operating to introduce and sell products in the area. And these sales groups have taken advantage of the government's lax supervision to sell products at "exorbitant" prices to the people.

During the meeting on the morning of April 17, 2017, right after the "product introduction" group had just left Lien Dinh village, the representative of Chi Khe commune government said: Before the product introduction activity of this group of strangers in the area, the commune government had signed an introduction letter for them to enter the area to introduce electronic products, including LED lights. This person said that the commune government also followed the official dispatch of the Economic - Infrastructure Department of Con Cuong district. "With the official dispatch of the district, the commune will introduce to the village. The function of the commune cannot assess the quality of these products" -, the representative of Chi Khe commune said.

According to the Chi Khe commune government, the vendors only presented an official dispatch and a pre-printed introduction letter. “The commune also believed that there was an official dispatch from the district, so it approved the implementation according to the official dispatch from the Department of Industry and Trade” (Department of Economy - Infrastructure of Con Cuong district - PV).

The product set of Ms. Vi Thi Lan, To village, Yen Khe commune, bought from a group of people introducing the product. Photo: Ho Phuong

On the afternoon of April 17, 2017, the Nghe An Newspaper's reporter team contacted the Economic - Infrastructure Department of Con Cuong district. Documents related to the unit called Gia Dung Viet Nam Production and Trading Joint Stock Company presented to the competent authority showed that this enterprise is located in Nam Tu Liem District (Hanoi).

According to official dispatch No. 11/KTHT.TM of the Economic - Infrastructure Department of Con Cuong district issued on April 7, 2017, signed by Head of Department Vi Van Quy, it has agreed to allow enterprises to introduce products in Con Cuong district with the above products during the period from April 9 to 30, 2017.

The document also requires the Vietnamese Household Appliances enterprise, during the process of organizing product introductions, to notify the Economic - Infrastructure Department, the Market Management Team located in the area and the People's Committees of the communes to organize monitoring and inspection.

However, Mr. Vi Van Quy - Head of the Economic - Infrastructure Department of Con Cuong district appeared quite surprised by the information provided by the group of reporters about GDVN company organizing a product introduction in Chi Khe commune.

Mr. Quy said that the agency did not receive any notification from the business about the time and location of the product introduction. Some of the products they introduced were not on the list registered with the local authorities. Through discussion, an employee of Market Management Team No. 7 stationed in Chi Khe commune said that they also did not know about the product introduction activities of people claiming to be this business. Even the Economic - Infrastructure Department did not know that there was a group of people claiming to be employees of Son Ha company coming to sell products in Yen Khe commune, causing dozens of households to "suffer bitter consequences".

Document issued by the Department of Planning and Investment of Con Cuong district. Photo: Huu Vi

A representative of the Economic - Infrastructure Department of Con Cuong district added: Although GDVN company has registered its operating time, this agency requires the enterprise to let this agency inspect the new products introduced. Through the initial investigation of the group of reporters, this group of people ignored the requests of the authorities, took advantage of loopholes in the management of the functional sector to sell goods at prices many times higher than the current market price.

Late in the afternoon of April 18, 2017, some village representatives in Mon Son commune (Con Cuong) also informed that the village had received "invitations" from Gia Dung Viet Nam company to introduce its products on the morning of April 18 in this border commune. "But I don't understand why they had to stop the program. This morning, many people who came to the commune committee to listen to the product introduction had to return home because the company's staff did not come. "They said their vehicle broke down on the way so they couldn't go up" - a village chief in Mon Son commune said.

According to the investigation of Nghe An Newspaper reporters, these fraudulent sales activities have been happening in mountainous districts for a long time. Fraudsters are still using different tricks to pick people's pockets unreasonably. It is time for local authorities to intervene to prevent this situation./.

Huu Vi - Ho Phuong