A SALES manager with online used-car dealer guazi.com has been detained by Longgang police for allegedly committing fraud, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported.

This February, a man identified as Huang became acquainted with a woman surnamed Ruan, who claimed to be a sales manager with guazi.com in Shenzhen. Huang, accompanied by Ruan, later bought several vehicles at a Guazi store in Pinghu Subdistrict, Longgang District.

As the two became more familiar with each other over several deals, Ruan proposed that Huang did not need to come to the store for future transactions, but could instead transfer the money for the cars directly to her. Considering that all the previous transactions had gone smoothly, Huang agreed to her suggestion.

“I usually transferred the money to her through WeChat or credit card. There was really nothing wrong at the beginning, and I had successively bought more than 20 cars from her,” Huang was quoted as saying.

However, Huang hasn’t been able to pick up the cars he has bought since the end of March. Huang decided to call the police, only to find that the money he had transferred to Ruan’s personal account hadn’t reached the company and there were a number of customers who had also been swindled.

According to Wang, he lost nearly 900,000 yuan (US$133,020) on eight cars that he has yet to pick up. “I think the used-car company has a big problem in the supervision process. I asked their customer service staff why I couldn’t pick up the cars, they told me to find the sales department,” Wang said.

The public relations staffer with guazi.com told the Daily that the company will handle the issue properly for customers who have signed the purchase contracts, and will strictly comply with the results of a police investigation and the final judgment of the court to perform corresponding responsibilities.

Ruan was criminally detained by the police April 13, the Daily reported. The case is currently under further investigation.

(Zhang Yu)