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Fraud hundreds of millions of yuan! The "tea drinks joining" gang was investigated and punished!

Published: 2026-08-25 Author:

Last Updated: 2026/08/25, ▲ Click to pay attention| Daily Boutique Coffee Culture Magazine Coffee Factory Recently, the Qingpu Branch of the Shanghai City Public Security Bureau released a message saying that the Qingpu police had received a report that a citizen had been cheated of investing in a milk tea shop. After investigation, the operator found that there were also many victims who had been defrauded of "franchise fees." At the beginning of this year,

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Recently, the Qingpu Branch of the Shanghai Public Security Bureau announced that the Qingpu police had received a report that some citizens had been cheated into investing in milk tea shops. After conducting an investigation, the operator found that many victims had the experience of being cheated out of "franchise fees".

At the beginning of this year, the informant said that he had searched the Internet for information such as joining a tea brand to establish contact with a third-party investment channel that claimed to be a well-known tea brand, but the company said that it intended to join a brand with high threshold and high investment. instead recommend its "low threshold, high revenue" sub-brands.

During this period, the informant was invited to inspect the company and was blinded by the other party's words such as "opening a store with one button, short-term capital recovery, and after-sales service" in the process of understanding the brand, and signed a franchise contract on the spot and paid 80,000 yuan for the franchise fee. After the store opened, the company asked the franchisee to pay more than 100,000 yuan in material fees, and said that if the fees were not paid, it would be found to be in breach of contract, and the franchise fees paid in the previous period would not be refunded.

However, after paying the fee as required, the company ignored the franchisee and refused to perform its business support obligations for various reasons, and the price of the materials sold to the franchisee was much higher than the market price. Due to the lack of awareness of the brand, the store was soon closed because of losses.

The franchisee who invested a lot of money contacted the salesman of the company several times after closing the shop, only to find that the staff who handed over to him had lost contact, and the company's headquarters had long been empty.

After receiving a report from the public, after investigation and omni-directional touch arrangement, the Qingpu police found a "routine" contract fraud gang hidden in other provinces and cities. After clarifying the framework and modus operandi of criminal gangs, by mid-September, Shanghai Qingpu police had carried out arrests in many provinces and cities and successfully arrested 34 suspects.

After investigation, since 2019, the suspect has teamed up with many people to set up a brand to join the company. The fraud gang put bidding advertisements on self-media and websites to attract customers who intend to join to consult. Subsequently, he falsely claimed that he was a third-party investment channel for a well-known brand, deliberately exaggerating the high threshold and high investment of the brand, and gradually guiding customers to join the gang's own brand, with its false promise of "short-term capital recovery, guarantee after-sales service," and so on. Fraudulent franchise fees and other fees.

When the money is received, the criminal gang will blackmail the franchisee to pay twice the market price for materials on the grounds of breach of contract, and then no longer provide any services, resulting in most franchise stores operating poorly or even going out of business. In order to avoid the door-to-door visit of the franchisee and evade legal responsibility, the gang used a registered legal person to change its business address in six to nine months, and the re-registered company continued to "operate" with a new brand after changing its shell.

By the time they were arrested, the gang had swindled hundreds of millions of yuan in various fees, such as franchise fees, in the name of nearly 10 brands.

At present, eight people in the gang have been arrested by the Qingpu District people's Procuratorate on suspicion of contract fraud, and 26 people have been taken criminal compulsory measures by the Qingpu police according to law on suspicion of contract fraud, and the case is under further investigation.

Photo: Shanghai Qingpu Police

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