Female employee traveling 9 kilometers away to Nanjing was forced to pay more than 13,000 yuan due to verbal threats

Police in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province recently solved a criminal case of “routine transfer”. One woman walked a short distance of eight or nine kilometers, but was forced to pay 13,900 yuan (about US$1,930) under the threat of the proposer. Police investigation found that the moving company involved in the case first attracted customers with low-priced advertisements on the internet. After the workers came to the door, they raised the prices for various reasons, and even confiscated goods and detained people in residences to put pressure on them. By September this year, police had shut down the network three times and arrested a total of 83 suspects, of whom 76 were charged with criminal penalties.

According to reports from CCTV News Client and Xinmin Evening News, Nanjing police received reports of increasing disputes one after another. People reported that the customer service originally quoted a price of four to five hundred yuan, but after the workers arrived at the scene, they added the distance fee, floor fee and large moving fee, and the total price increased several times.

Chen Xinwei, deputy squadron leader of the criminal investigation brigade of the Yuhuatai Branch of the Nanjing Public Security Bureau, said that in many cases staff raise prices on the grounds that there is no elevator on the site, the goods are too heavy, or the vehicle cannot reach the door of the unit, and they also charge based on the distance of transportation.

Police investigation found that the company concerned had initially quoted a higher price to leave room for bargaining for customers. For example, if the customer service quote is 400 yuan, the employee may demand 4,000 yuan after arriving at the scene. Even if the price eventually drops to 2,000 or 3,000 yuan, it is still much higher than the original quote. If the customer refuses to increase the price, the employees will take possession of the goods or stay at the house, and use threats to force the customer to compromise; Those canceling orders may also be charged an “empty shipping fee.”

According to the report, Ms Wang, a civilian, was forced to pay 13,900 yuan under verbal threat by the driver for traveling a short distance of eight or nine kilometres.

Police reported that the company involved in the case attracted traffic through paid top advertisements on online search platforms, and used the reputation of well-known moving companies to attract customers with low “fixed price” prices. The investigation further found that both moving companies were dominated by the Bai family and the Sha family respectively, and were related to each other. Online customer service took orders, offline truck captains took the lead in price increases, and porters cooperated to put pressure on them.

Police discovered that the gang had a clear sharing system. The company got 63.5% and the team got 36.5%. The team leader and driver took the first 10% of the management fee, and the rest was divided equally among the porters. By September, police had shut down the network three times, arrested 83 suspects, and brought criminal penalties against 76 people. Several main suspects are suspected of forced transactions and have been transferred to the Procuratorate for review and prosecution.

The police remind people that when choosing a moving company, they should give priority to the regular platform and review the operator information in advance; If the quotation is significantly lower than the market price, they should compare multiple parties to avoid falling into the trap of low-priced traffic and on-site price gouging.