The tenant was evicted after only a week, the landlord did not receive the rent for a long time, and the agent ran away with the money...... Recently, the Economic Investigation Brigade of the Guancheng Branch of the Public Security Bureau of Zhengzhou City, Henan Province has detected a number of housing rental fraud cases, involving more than 700 victims and involving more than 2,000 yuan.
So far, the police have arrested 11 main suspects, of which 4 have been sentenced, and 7 are going through further judicial proceedings.
The reporter's investigation found that housing rental fraud cases in some places are frequent, bringing heavy economic losses to tenants and landlords, which is worthy of vigilance.
I paid my rent but was evicted
"I signed a one-year lease and was kicked out after only a week." Ms. Zheng from Zhengzhou said that she rented a house through Henan Hong, and not long after she moved in, the landlord suddenly came to her door and asked her to move out.
"According to the agent's request, I paid 21,000 yuan in rent for one year, and the contract clearly stated that I had paid the annual rent, but the landlord said that I had not received the rent." After being evicted, Ms. Cheng was bewildered and was nowhere to be found when she contacted the agent again.
The same situation happened to another victim, Mr. Xue. He works in Zhengzhou, and in order to facilitate his children's schooling, he plans to rent a two-bedroom apartment near the school. The rent quoted by Henan Hong Co., Ltd. was lower than the market price, and he immediately paid a one-year rent of 18,000 yuan, plus a deposit of 2,000 yuan. But less than a month after moving in, the landlord also evicted him on the grounds that he had not received the rent.
Recently, the Zhengzhou police have received reports from the masses about housing rental fraud. The victims all said that they were evicted by their landlords shortly after signing a rental contract with an agency and paying the full rent, and the landlord claimed that they had not received the rent. When the tenant and the landlord went to the agency that had signed the contract, they found that the company had already been empty, closed and ran away.
"We set up a task force to sort out the facts of the case and uncover the inside story of the contract fraud of the intermediary company in the mode of 'high income and low rent, long collection and short payment'." Chen Shouliang, captain of the Economic Investigation Brigade of the Guancheng Branch of the Zhengzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau, said.
After a comprehensive analysis of the gang members and the means involved in the case, the context of many contract fraud cases gradually became clear, and the contract fraud criminal gang headed by Wang Moujie was immediately arrested.
The People's Court of Guancheng Hui District, Zhengzhou City, pronounced a judgment in the first instance and found that the defendant Wang Moujie, the regional general manager of Henan Hong Co., Ltd., together with others, defrauded the other party of property in the process of signing and performing the contract for the purpose of illegal possession, and the amount was particularly huge, and his conduct constituted the crime of contract fraud, and sentenced him to seven years imprisonment and a fine of 30,000 yuan.
The "loss-making" contract is hidden after the cat
"We charge the landlord a high price, but we only pay the landlord about two months' rent; Then rent out the house at a price lower than the price of the house, collect one or two years of rent from the tenant, and collect the tenant's money in his hand first. Criminal suspect Wang Moujie confessed.
After investigation, there are three intermediary companies involved in the case, and the gang has defrauded more than 700 tenants from February 2023 to November 2023, involving an amount of more than 2,000 yuan.
In the process of investigating the case, the Guancheng Branch of the Zhengzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau found that the housing leasing intermediary contract fraud gang had hidden methods and a complete chain, and a large number of tenants and landlords were deceived.
"They registered a housing rental company in the jurisdiction where they committed the crime, recruited a large number of salesmen, and collected housing listings online and offline in the form of hosting houses; When signing a contract with a landlord, there is a commitment to pay a one-month deposit and a high monthly rent. Through the form of 'high income, short payment', they can accumulate a large number of properties in a short period of time. The police handling the case introduced.
After collecting the listings, the housing rental agency will use the form of "low rent, long-term income" to publish low-priced listings through social media to attract tenants. "When we rent out, the monthly rent is usually 300 to 800 yuan lower than the hosting price. The longer the tenant's lease, the lower the rent, in order to trick the tenant into signing a long-term contract and increasing the total cost of payment. Criminal suspect Wang Moujie confessed.
"The landlord's rent is paid monthly, while the tenant is charged a one-time half-year or year's rent, so that the 'less out, more in' way can circle more money." Wang Moujie confessed that after the company defrauded tenants of rent in the mode of "high income and low rent, long collection and short payment", he closed the company and absconded with the money.
With the deepening of the investigation, the police found that there is still a phenomenon of "passing on the gang and leading" in this model, and the old and new ones teach skills and methods, and the new company replicates the criminal methods to carry out contract fraud again.
"When handling the case of Henan Hong Co., Ltd., we found that the managers of the other two companies, Huang and Guo, had worked in the company. Subsequently, the two set up their own rental companies and committed contract fraud in the same way. Chen Shouliang introduced that after the merger of cases, it was found that the suspects crossed each other, forming a new type of housing rental intermediary contract fraud model integrating "trusteeship, rental, and copying".
Be wary of low price temptations and beware of rental scams
In recent years, similar rental scams have occurred in many parts of the country. In May this year, a number of netizens posted on social platforms that renting a house in a community in Changping District, Beijing encountered a "trap": the lease period had not expired, the "second landlord" lost contact with the money, and the landlord asked the tenant to move out. After calling the police, the "second landlord" Zhang was criminally detained.
In April 2021, the Ministry of Public Security, together with the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and six other ministries and commissions, jointly issued the "Opinions on Strengthening the Supervision of Asset-light Housing Rental Enterprises", requiring the regulation of housing rental operations. In principle, the period for a single rent collection by a housing leasing enterprise shall not exceed 3 months; Except for normal business activities caused by market changes, the rent paid to the owner of the property shall not be higher than the rent collected from the tenant in principle. If a housing leasing enterprise collects rent for more than 3 months at a time, or collects a deposit for more than 1 month at a time, it shall include the rent and deposit collected in the supervision account.
In view of the high incidence of housing rental fraud cases, the police especially remind landlords and tenants to be vigilant in the process of renting houses to avoid falling into the scam of "high income and low rent, long income and short payment".
The police handling the case pointed out that when choosing a real estate agency, the landlord should not easily entrust the house to an unknown agency because of the greed for trouble or the pursuit of high returns. It is necessary to check whether the various procedures are complete on the spot, and pay attention to the information such as the establishment time and business scale of the intermediary company to ensure its legitimacy and reliability.
For tenants, when paying rent, do not choose an intermediary company with a significantly lower rent because of greed for cheapness; You should be aware of and refer to the average rent in the area you want to rent, as there may be risks if the rental price is unusually low.
Secondly, when renting a house, tenants should choose the direct leasing model between landlord and tenant as much as possible; If you encounter a "second landlord", be sure to check the relevant documents of the house, authorization procedures, etc., to ensure the authenticity and legitimacy of the lease relationship. Tenants should try to avoid paying more than 6 months' rent at once to reduce the risk of financial loss.
In addition, the public security organs appeal to the general public to report to the public security organs in a timely manner if they find suspicious circumstances or encounter fraud during the housing rental process.
Source: Xinhua News Agency