SEVERAL hundred people were cheated in an investment scam by a company called Shenzhen Kuaijietong Group (KJT) in Nanshan District, according to a report by Shenzhen Television on Wednesday.

A victim, surnamed Fang, got to know a woman, who claimed to be both an employee and investor with KJT in March 2016.

The woman, surnamed Lyu, told Fang that she had purchased luxury items, such as watches, cellphones and a BMW car, with the reward points she earned from investing, and the points could be used to purchase any item.

As each point is equivalent to 1 yuan (US$0.15) and they supposedly accumulated like a snowball, Fang was tempted to partner with her friend and invested 45,000 yuan in KJT.

On KJT’s website, the group asserts that it is an online finance firm, and that the rewards points can be used to purchase commodities, automobiles, insurance and even real estate.

It wasn’t until March this year that KJT’s online stores became available, but investors found out to their dismay that the reward points were only useable for trading a few commodities.

On June 2, KJT announced on its website that cash and reward point transfers in China had been suspended and investors’ account cash balance could be used to trade “Bama water.”

Fang tried to contact Lyu to settle her investment, but she couldn’t reach her by phone.

According to the victims, they registered their KJT accounts without signing any contracts, and they transferred money immediately after registering.

(Lei Kaibin, Han Ximin)