Chapter 218: A Scam Company

After listening to the two women’s words, Chen Feng roughly guessed what was going on. It was nothing more than a trick to cheat applicants out of their money.

This phenomenon had always existed. Those with a bit of conscience would only cheat them out of some registration fees, material fees, and file fees, ranging from tens to one or two hundred yuan.

Don’t look down on the small amount of tens or hundreds of yuan per person. But with a large number of applicants, it was a common thing to easily earn tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands in a few days.

And this was a long-term business. As long as they posted recruitment ads in newspapers and on the internet, the investment was not large, but the revenue was considerable. They could recruit and make money for a long time from the beginning of the year to the end.

Those with a darker heart would further demand various fees such as training fees, clothing fees, and makeup fees, which could range from hundreds to thousands, and they would make even more money.

Of course, there was also a probability issue. Generally speaking, for tens or hundreds of yuan, those applicants who were eager to find a job, especially those fresh graduates who were new to the workplace, would basically be deceived. After all, the money was not much. If they didn’t pay, they would definitely lose this job. If they paid, they would have a chance.

However, for a large amount of money, several hundred or even several thousand, ordinary applicants would not be so foolish as to pay. After all, for ordinary applicants, this amount of money was a bit much, and they would definitely hesitate. Most people would give up.

It was not so easy to cheat so much money through simple recruitment methods.

So, the situation of model companies or cultural media companies recruiting models like this appeared, and they cheated these young and inexperienced girls by taking model card photo albums for them.

This was based on the particularity of the modeling industry. If it were other industries, the success rate of asking applicants to pay so much money would be very low, but the success rate in the modeling industry was very high.

The so-called model card was a model’s card, which had the model’s photos and basic information, such as stage name, age, height, weight, measurements, shoe size, and so on. This kind of information card was indispensable for a model. Without it, it was not easy to promote oneself and get jobs.

If you made this kind of model card yourself at a photo studio outside, it would cost at most one or two hundred.

But in these model companies, when these applicants went, it would cost several thousand or even tens of thousands to take a set of photos. Many applicants were eager for the model company to introduce them to modeling jobs to make money, and with some of the other party’s deceptive words, they were deceived.

Of course, the interviewers of the scam company also treated people differently. If they saw that your clothes were relatively ordinary, they might take the photos for you for a few hundred yuan.

If you encountered some more “formal” companies like this, they would even officially launch several packages for you to take model cards, mainly high, medium, and low three grades for you to choose from, and they were also divided into indoor and outdoor, which was more open and transparent, and aboveboard. It could also be said that the willing would take the bait.

If you said you already had a model card, and it looked pretty good, it was useless. Since the other party wanted to cheat you out of the money for taking model cards, they would definitely not accept it. Unless you didn’t want to join their company and didn’t need them to introduce you to modeling business and jobs, you had to pay this money.

And the applicants who joined their company and were willing to pay the money for taking model cards, of course, hoped that their company could help introduce them to modeling-related jobs.

If the other party was really a legitimate model company, then they would have paid the thousands or tens of thousands for the model card. After all, the other party could earn this money back by introducing them to one or two big jobs. The other party would definitely say this when they interviewed you, so many girls were moved and deceived.

Unfortunately, generally, model companies that charged this kind of money were not legitimate companies. They were only responsible for cheating the money for the model card. Of course, they would not introduce models to jobs, or they would not put their main energy on this.

This kind of scam had been prevalent for several years. Many young girls who wanted to be models and make money easily were deceived. There was no formal exposure in the media. Only occasionally, someone would expose it on the internet, but the impact was not great. After all, compared to the general public, the modeling industry was still a relatively niche industry. Some people even called the police, but it was not very useful.

The reason was simple. The transaction between the other party and the applicant was “fair, just, and open” from the beginning. The applicant paid the money, and the model company provided the applicant with “photography services.” The price was told to you in advance, and what kind of model card would be produced was also told to you. There was no deception in this service, and the money was all paid by the applicant “willingly.”

And before they arranged for you to take the model card, they would generally sign a “photography contract” with you, which was very formal.

So, it was very difficult for the applicants to win against the model company from a legal perspective and get their money back. And companies like this all had a set of effective scam procedures and emergency response plans. They were basically gang crimes, with each person having their own duties and cooperating tacitly.

They would cheat as long as they could in this city. In the end, when there was no one left to cheat or the matter got out of hand, they would directly cancel the company and leave, with the building empty. They would go to another place, another city, and set up a new company to continue cheating.

This was also the main reason why this kind of scam had been prevalent for a long time and was still prevalent today.

One was that the money came quickly, and the other was that compared to other scam companies, their legal risks were relatively small.

Now that these two women were making a scene at this scam company, the middle-aged fat man, Gu Xin, was not afraid at all. He had scared them with a few words. This was not the first time he had encountered such a thing. He had encountered it countless times before, and he had a whole set of effective response plans and words.

And so, facing the stubborn girl in front of him, he shook his head and sighed with an old-fashioned look, “You young people, do you really think it’s so easy to find modeling jobs? Do you know how competitive the modeling industry is? Besides, our company doesn’t just take any job. We definitely have to choose good jobs, jobs with high prices. Who was that last time? Yes, her name was Lin Wanqiu. She’s considered your senior sister. Our company helped her get the print ad for Liya Cosmetics. It wasn’t much to shoot a set. It took three days, and in the end, she received a remuneration of 300,000. It wasn’t much, but it mainly made her famous.”

When Gu Xin said this, he really calmed the scene. Many of the applicants who were originally skeptical now began to trust this company again.

The main reason was that Gu Xin’s expression was very serious and sincere, without any sign of lying. And hadn’t he given an example? Could this be fake?

The model he mentioned, Lin Wanqiu, was not fake. She did exist, and she had indeed shot the print ad for Yali Cosmetics. However, she was only registered with his company, and his company had only given her a few tens of thousands for the registration fee.

Although his company did not openly promote Lin Wanqiu when they were doing external publicity, they had mentioned this Lin Wanqiu a lot when they were interviewing applicants. And there was a room in the company that was specially used to display some of Lin Wanqiu’s photos and successful cases.

In this aspect, this scam group led by Gu Xin had done a pretty good job, especially in some details, which was quite rare.

The reason was of course that Gu Xin and the others wanted to cheat as long as they could in Xiuzhou, and cheat as many as they could.

After all, Xiuzhou was one of the top big cities in the country, and the applicants were generally rich and willing to spend money.

“You two, come with me to the office. I’ll have a good talk with you and clear up any unnecessary misunderstandings.”

After Gu Xin had calmed the scene, he immediately called the two women to the office, planning to appease them and minimize the impact of this matter.

He had dealt with this kind of situation many times before. The principle was to continue to cheat if he could, and to delay if he could. If it really didn’t work, he would find a way to introduce them to one or two small jobs. This could be real or fake. It was nothing more than having them change into a few new clothes, having a photographer take a few photos of them, and then at most giving them two or three hundred yuan, saying that these photos would be used by some merchants.

In this way, he could temporarily appease them. It would be fine for another ten days or half a month. When the time came, if their company was still open, the same trick could be used repeatedly. Until they canceled the company and ran away.

After Chen Feng had watched the whole thing, none of the girls who were originally filling out the forms had left, which made Chen Feng very speechless. Were the young girls nowadays so easy to cheat?

But to be honest, you couldn’t blame them. One was that the professional quality of Gu Xin’s group was very strong. In addition, they had deliberately invited a “famous model” to endorse them and had chosen this International Trade Building, which made the office space look a bit high-end. The company’s decoration was also very formal, with a director’s office, a finance office, a makeup room, and a photography studio. There were also a dazzling array of various clothes and cosmetics, which made it difficult for people to believe that this was a fake model company.

“Chen Feng, what do you think of this place? Do you want to have another look?”

After Gu Xin had taken the two women to the office, Cai Zhixin quickly asked Chen Feng. He was now in urgent need of money and was eager to sell this house.

Chen Feng glanced at him and asked instead of answering, “Do you know this scammer Gu?”

Cai Zhixin was stunned for a moment, then smiled and shook his head, “I wouldn’t say I know him. It’s mainly the relationship between a landlord and a tenant. But I’ve met him twice at a club opened by a friend, and we had a few drinks and chatted a little. I’ve never had any intention of getting close to a swindler like him.”

Chen Feng nodded and believed his words. It was obvious that a famous rich second generation like him didn’t need to know a low-life swindler like this, let alone get close to him.

The two of them were in the office area, openly discussing the scammer Gu, and directly calling Gu Xin a scammer, without lowering their voices. Everyone around them heard it, and their faces all changed. Including the few company staff.

One of the male staff members immediately said angrily, “What nonsense are you talking about? Get out of here quickly. You’re not welcome here.”

Cai Zhixin immediately glared at this person rudely, “Are you fucking looking for death? This is my house, and you’re telling me to get out? Believe it or not, I’ll find someone to have you all thrown in? You fucking scammers are still pretending to be decent people in front of me?”

When Cai Zhixin flared up like this, this scammer was immediately silenced and couldn’t say a word. How could someone who owned an office building like this in this area be a simple person?

And at this time, the dozen or so girls who were still filling out the forms finally reacted.

Three or four girls stood up first, picked up their forms, and left. Most of the other girls also followed and walked towards the door.

They had already suspected that this company was cheating money because of the two women’s commotion before, but later, Gu Xin’s words were so good that they chose to believe it again.

But now, a rich second generation like Cai Zhixin, the landlord of this house, wouldn’t lie to them, right? Even a person with no brain would know that this was a scam company after hearing what Chen Feng and Cai Zhixin had said.

“Don’t go! Don’t go! Don’t listen to their nonsense. We are a legitimate company and we are definitely not cheating people.”

“Don’t go. Don’t regret it if you leave.”

In the end, there were three girls left, but they were all crying, because they had already paid the money. Now they regretted it and wanted the staff to refund them the money. Of course, the staff were not willing, so they started to argue with them.

Chen Feng gave Cai Zhixin a look and led the way out of this model company.

The two of them walked to the elevator and saw a large group of women waiting for the elevator, so they walked towards the stairs. Anyway, it was only the fourth floor.

When they reached the large shopping mall on the first floor, Chen Feng stopped, turned around, and said to Cai Zhixin, “I’ll buy this place, but there’s a condition.”

Hearing this, Cai Zhixin quickly said, “What condition? As long as it’s not difficult, I can agree to it.”

Chen Feng said with a serious expression, “This condition should be very simple for you. It’s to help call the police and destroy this scam company. I believe Young Master Cai, you should have this ability, right?”

Cai Zhixin immediately looked at him with a strange expression, “This is indeed not difficult for me, but the other party shouldn’t have offended you, right? Is it necessary to be like this?”

Chen Feng smiled and said, “He didn’t offend me. But I don’t like this group of scammers. And they are cheating young and beautiful girls who are eager to find a job. It’s really too immoral.”

Cai Zhixin smiled, “It seems you are also a man of taste. You know how to cherish beautiful women. Alright, I’ll help you with this. To be honest, I don’t like this group of scammers either. I didn’t know they were scammers at first. I only found out after I rented the house to them and signed the contract. These guys are doing low-life scams, and it’s really disgusting to watch. Let’s just deal with them this time.”

Chen Feng nodded, “Then it’s settled. After this scam company is destroyed, we’ll sign the contract.”

“Alright, straightforward. I’ll help you with this today. Wait for my good news.”

After Cai Zhixin finished speaking, he didn’t chat with Chen Feng anymore and left with his female companion.

And at this time, Sun Xiaorui was looking at Chen Feng with a look of admiration. As soon as they left, she couldn’t help but hug him, her eyes full of appreciation and love, “Brother Feng, you really have a sense of justice. I really love you.”

“Alright. We’re in public.” Chen Feng smiled and patted her on the back. “I’m just doing this on the side. Since I have the ability to help, then I’ll help. It’s also considered doing a good deed and accumulating merit.”

This was a shopping mall on the first floor. Although there were not many people around, there were still quite a few. Sun Xiaorui was also a little embarrassed and quickly let go of Chen Feng, saying with a smile, “Brother Feng, you’re still the best. With this move of borrowing strength to strike, I believe these scammers will receive the punishment they deserve.”

Chen Feng nodded and didn’t speak.

(End of chapter)