On the evening of March 15, CCTV’s “March 15” party exposed the product “scam” of Tongcheng Financial App. The Tongcheng Financial app is selling its products like a sheep's head, and provides high-interest loan products to consumers in a disguised form in the form of "gift certificates."
According to the complainant Xiao Li, the total price of purchasing the gift package was more than 40,000 yuan, but the actual price, including redemption and recycling, was only more than 28,000 yuan. After some gift wrapping, nearly one-third of Xiao Li’s money was digested by Tongcheng Financial App.
“Clever” monetization routine
According to the March 15 party report, consumers first applied for a gift package through installment payment on the Tongcheng Financial App, and then the consumer used the gift card in the gift package through the Tongcheng Financial App The recycling channel on the Internet is then sold to Tongcheng Financial App. Tongcheng Financial App will transfer the money to the consumer's account. Since the consumer purchases the gift package in monthly installments, after one month, the consumer will You have to return the money you spent to buy the gift pack to the Tongcheng Financial app.
In this process, a 94% discount is required to realize the gift certificate. After the 1,800 yuan gift card is cashed out, you can only get 1,800 yuan multiplied by 0.94, which is 1,692 yuan. In just the step of cashing out, 6% of the borrowed amount is deducted.
The gift packages purchased by consumers are also mixed with various so-called membership rights. Through the combination of "gift cards + member rights coupons + physical goods", Tongcheng Financial App conducts various forced sales.
Consumer Xiao Li bought the gift package in installments and received only 1,692 yuan. One month later, he had to pay back 2,448 yuan. This means that Xiao Li had to pay for other products that were forcibly bundled with the gift package when repaying the loan.
In response to the related product issues reported by CCTV on March 15th Party, Tongcheng Financial responded on Weibo that the company attaches great importance to it and set up a special team as soon as possible to comprehensively investigate related issues. We sincerely apologize for the negative impact caused to users. The company will immediately take the relevant products offline, conduct compliance inspections on all the company's products, and fully cooperate with the rectification requirements of relevant departments.
Secret Relationship Network
The developer of Tongcheng Financial App is Shanghai Lvji Technology Co., Ltd. Tianyancha shows that the company was established in December 2017, with the legal representative Ye Nanxing and a registered capital of 100 million yuan.
It is worth mentioning that Guangzhou Firefly Microfinance Co., Ltd. and Tongcheng Finance are affiliated companies with the same legal representative. The company was established in April 2016 with a registered capital of 600 million yuan. Its business scope includes financing consulting services, corporate management consulting, financial consulting, small loan business, etc.
Nandu·Wancaishe reporter noticed from the official website of Tongcheng Finance that Tongcheng Finance directly stated the relevant matters of Guangzhou Firefly Microfinance Co., Ltd. in the "About Us" introduction.
In addition, the above two companies are 100% owned by Guangzhou Lujin Technology Co., Ltd. Equity analysis through Tianyancha found that Guangzhou Lvjin Technology Group Co., Ltd. has 5 shareholders, of which the largest shareholder is Suzhou Tongcheng Lvjin Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Tongcheng Lvjin"), with a shareholding ratio of 55.14%.
The shareholder composition of Tongchenglvjin is relatively complex. The largest shareholder is Suzhou Huafan Runhe Venture Capital Partnership, with a share of 18.01%. In addition, there are three shareholders holding more than 10% of the company's shares, namely Shanghai Ctrip International Travel Agency Co., Ltd., Shenzhen OCT Capital Investment Management Co., Ltd., and Shenzhen Litong Industrial Investment Fund Co., Ltd., with corresponding shareholdings of 15.09%, 11.54%, 11.45%.
In addition, the shareholders behind Tongcheng Lvjin include many well-known investment institutions, including Shenzhen Tencent Industrial Investment Fund Co., Ltd., with a shareholding ratio of 1.17%.
Written by: Nandu·Wancaishe reporter Wu Hongsen
