SEVERAL investors were swindled out of millions of yuan by a Shenzhen-based company, which claimed that it could help them profit from investments in crude oil, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported yesterday.

    An investor, Gu Fang, said that a sales associate of the asset management company invited him to attend a lecture at the company Oct. 9 last year. A manager recommended that Gu invest in crude oil after showing him a so-called asset analysis software that cost the company millions of yuan to develop.

    The manager said that the company’s tutors provide investors with one-on-one services, telling them when to buy and when to sell. Even though Gu had never heard of crude oil investment before, he was persuaded after the manager told him that many investors had made a fortune from the strategy.

    Gu transferred 880,000 yuan (US$127,536) into an investment account he opened with the company. A company staffer, surnamed Liu, told Gu to put all of the money into the investment platform Oct. 13 and 28 because he said there would be a “strong market,” but Gu lost 200,000 yuan. After making a dozen transactions within a month, Gu lost 450,000 yuan in total.

    Another victim, surnamed Ding, transferred over 1 million yuan to the company’s account after being fooled by the company’s sales associate in the same way as Gu. “The tutor kept asking me to make investments, and I lost 668,000 yuan within two months,” he said.

    According to Ding, two other investors, surnamed Shi and Tian, were swindled out of 50,000 yuan and 240,000 yuan, respectively, by the company as well.

    QQ chat records between Ding and a so-called “golden” tutor, surnamed Wu, showed that Wu had mentioned Iran’s nuclear issues from time to time to convince Ding that there were big opportunities in crude oil investment.

    Ding said that he realized the whole thing was a scam after he did some research online. According to Ding, the company was using its virtual trading software to fool its clients and make a profit.

    “They saw every transaction that investors made on the company’s platform,” Ding said. “They manipulated the software to fake the fluctuation of crude oil prices, and they decided who would lose money and who would not.”

    Ding said the company’s legal representative only agreed to compensate him 100,000 yuan after he threatened to call the police. Gu and Ding called the police after they found the company’s office in Diwang Mansion in Luohu District closed Nov. 5.

    The police said that an investigation into the case is ongoing, but wouldn’t disclose any details.

    A Shenzhen lawyer, Zeng Qiujun, said that the Ministry of Commerce hasn’t approved a futures exchange market for trading crude oil or oil products in China. He said that the company was suspected of committing fraud and operating an illegal business, and that it should return all of the money that it obtained from the victims. (Zhang Yang)