High investment did not bring high income, and the cross-border e-commerce agency company was accused of defrauding the police.

Cross-border e-commerce agency helps you to return to your capital in three months, and it only takes a few days to surpass the income of ordinary people for one month and make money while lying down … Are these propaganda reliable?

Recently, a number of victims reported to the complaint platform of the concept of quality that they were defrauded by a cross-border e-commerce agency, which lured users to buy its overseas agency services with high returns. The service price for eight months ranged from 49,000 yuan to 70,000 yuan, and promised to guarantee the bottom sales. However, after purchasing the service, they found that the company demanded continuous investment in the name of advertising money and sea freight, and if it refused to invest, it would be terminated to operate the service.

The staff claimed that the income of cross-border e-commerce for several days exceeded that of ordinary people for one month.

"It is said that it is to guarantee sales. In fact, there is still a saying that it is necessary to operate according to their operational suggestions and guidance. If they do not continue to invest as they say, they will terminate their cooperation." Liu Xin (not her real name) said that she invested about 70,000 yuan in the company one after another, and only received 5,450 yuan in income in three months. After applying for a refund, she was told that she could only return 8,000 yuan.

The company involved is Shenzhen Fiona Fang Haishang Technology Co., Ltd. On social media and complaint platforms, there have been many complaints about the company, saying that the actual sales did not meet the promise and the request for refund was rejected. Liu Xin said that there are more than 70 victims in her rights protection group.

In view of the above situation, shenzhen public Longhua Branch Minzhi Police Station has filed an investigation. The staff of the institute said that due to the large number of people involved and the large amount of money, special staff members have been responsible for local victims and foreign victims in Shenzhen, and victims can submit contracts and other related materials to the police.

On May 26th, the attorney of a manager in Fiona Fang told The Paper that the relevant person in charge of the company had been detained at present, and it was not convenient to disclose the details.

Shut down without charging advertising money? Buying cross-border e-commerce agency operation services encounters pits.

According to Liu Xin, in early 2023, she began to pay attention to the cross-border e-commerce industry, and searched Baidu for some information about cross-border e-commerce. In February, 2023, a staff member named Shenzhen Fiona Fang Going to Sea Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Fiona Fang Going to Sea) actively added her WeChat.

"After adding friends, the staff will push me the relevant information and billing data of cross-border e-commerce agency services from time to time, claiming that it only takes a few days to exceed the income of ordinary people for one month." Liu Xin said that the cross-border e-commerce industry introduced by the other party is very profitable, and there is no need to take any risks. If an agreement is signed with their company, the sales that fail to reach $25,000 will be refunded in proportion.

The contract stipulates that the sales amount is $25,000, but if it is not guided by the company, the agreement will be cancelled.

Under the introduction of the other party, on March 15th, 2023, Liu Xin paid 49,800 yuan to purchase the overseas operation service of Fiona Fang Offshore Company and signed the Business Cooperation of Independent Cross-border E-commerce Stations. According to the agreement, the other party will provide Liu Xin with independent station building and operation services, including store design, product selection, international logistics delivery, etc. The service period is 8 months.

It is also stipulated that during the cooperation period, the sales of independent shops will be $25,000 for one-time customers. If the store sales of Party A (Liu Xin) can’t reach the $25,000 agreed in the package, Party B (Fiona Fang) will return the cooperative service fee according to the specified proportion. If the store sales are less than $15,000, it will return 30% of the original service fee.

Liu Xin said that it was because of the guarantee of sales in the agreement that she signed the agreement with confidence. But what she didn’t see was that there was another line at the bottom of the clause: "During the cooperation period, if Party A doesn’t follow Party B’s operation suggestions and guidance, then Party B doesn’t need to complete the store sales."

"After opening the store, the staff told me that I need to invest about 1000 yuan’s advertising fee every day, saying that the more advertising money, the more output." Liu Xin showed a screenshot of the chat, and the staff asked her to recharge the advertising money many times, ranging from 1000 yuan to 10,000 yuan, indicating that "you can scroll directly when you get the money back later".

Liu Xin said that there was no feedback from the other party on where the advertising money was used and how effective it was. Under the guidance of the other party, she paid 5000 yuan in advertising money in about half a month. "I’m just an ordinary employee, and my monthly salary is about 3,000 yuan. I can’t always support these advertising funds, but they won’t do it if you don’t fill the advertising funds."

Liu Xin said that the establishment, product selection and shelving of the store are all done by the company. If someone places an order at her independent station, she will place an order through the product link provided by the company’s staff, and then send the product to Fiona Fang Shipping Company, which will then send it to foreign buyers. "The selection, purchase and sales are all arranged by them, and the purchase cost and return risk of the product will be borne by me."

After nearly three months of operation, Liu Xin found that its order return rate was as high as more than half. As a cross-border e-commerce, the international logistics express fee is a huge expense, and the high return rate means that it has to bear the round-trip transportation fee. "After returning the goods, I found out that the products they actually sent out were completely different from the product map on my store, and even the styles were completely different." Liu Xin said that he had also questioned that the product was different from the propaganda map, and the return rate was too high. The reply he got was that it could be delivered, which meant that the product had no problem.

"They only told me the final number of transactions, and then transferred the money they earned to me. Those goods that were not closed and returned did not know where they went." After three months of operation, Liu Xin made statistics, and the expenses of advertising money and goods procurement were about 20,000 yuan, and the operating expenses on behalf of him were 49,800 yuan, with a total cost of about 70,000 yuan, while his actual payment was only 5,450 yuan.

Liu Xin said that on July 1, 2023, her online store was shut down because she refused to invest advertising money. She applied to the company for a refund and was told that the maximum refund was 8,000 yuan. Liu Xin said that after many negotiations, the two sides failed to reach an agreement. "They said it was because I didn’t follow their operation suggestions and guidance. On May 4, they contacted me and said that if they were not satisfied with the refund scheme of 8,000 yuan, there was no need to continue communication, and then they went directly to legal procedures."

The picture on the left shows the product links sold in Liu Xin Independent Station, and the picture on the right shows the actual products shipped.

A large number of people were involved, and Shenzhen police filed an investigation.

Realizing that she had been cheated, Liu Xin searched the company on various platforms and found that many people had said that they had suffered the same situation as her. Liu Xin said that after they contacted each other, they formed a rights protection group. "Now there are more than 70 victims in the group. According to statistics, the amount is at least several million, and many victims have not been contacted."

The Paper reporter noticed that there were many complaints about Shenzhen Fiona Fang Haishang Technology Co., Ltd. on social platforms and a consumer complaint platform, most of which indicated that the agency operation was cheated and repeated investment in advertising fees failed.

Cheng Guang (not his real name) told The Paper that at the end of 2023, he bought the Amazon operation service of Fiona Fang Offshore Company worth 70,000 yuan. "At that time, they promised to reach 20,000 US dollars in sales during the eight-month service period, and asked me to add a service fee, saying that if I invested 10,000 yuan in the service fee, I would get 10,000 US dollars more performance.".

However, after investing more than 80 thousand yuan and operating for more than three months, Cheng Guang’s total income was only more than 1,000 dollars. Cheng Guang said that the company was asked to refund the fee, but it was rejected. "Later, in the rights protection group, we learned that they would charge in various names in addition to the service fee. Compared with the sea freight and advertising fee, everyone’s experience was similar, and they were induced to invest a little bit, and the final income was very small."

The owner of the rights group told the The Paper reporter: "The members in the group basically called the police, and everyone is waiting for information." A victim said that he learned from the police that the relevant person in charge of the company had been detained.

On May 23rd, the reporter from The Paper contacted the police station of the People’s Government of Longhua Branch of shenzhen public. The staff of the police station said that the police station had filed an investigation at present. Due to the large number of people involved and the large amount of money, there were special staff responsible for local victims and foreign victims, and the victims could submit contracts and other related materials to the police.

How many victims are involved at present, and are the relevant personnel of the company involved detained? The staff said that it is not convenient to disclose the specific situation, and the informant will be informed if there is progress.

According to the industrial and commercial information, Shenzhen Fiona Fang Haishang Technology Co., Ltd. was established on June 1, 2016 with a registered capital of RMB 10 million, which is currently in existence. On April 23, the company was listed in the list of abnormal business operations by Longhua Supervision Bureau of Shenzhen Municipal Market Supervision Administration because its registered residence or business premises could not be contacted.

According to the latest data of Consumer Insurance, a consumer service platform under china electronic chamber of commerce, there are 19,117 complaints about cross-border e-commerce agency operations, of which 2,871 cases are suspected of fraud, accounting for 15.02%. Among these complaints, the case involving Shenzhen Fiona Fang Haishang Technology Co., Ltd. is particularly eye-catching, with a single complaint amount as high as 70,000 yuan.

Official website, the company, shows that Fiona Fang is headquartered in Longhua District, Shenzhen, and currently has more than 300 employees. It is a comprehensive service company integrating Amazon store opening, course training, independent station operation and TikTok operation. The business scope covers the whole world, focusing on cultivating international markets such as Europe, North America, Japan, the Middle East and Australia.

The Paper reporter contacted Shenzhen Fiona Fang Sea Technology Co., Ltd. for many times, but no response has been received as of press time. On May 26th, the attorney of a manager in Fiona Fang told The Paper that the relevant person in charge of the company had been detained at present, and it was not convenient to disclose the details.