Wandering in the vast darkness

Chapter 55 has ended.

Although Mr. Wang felt it was all over, he was still somewhat unwilling to give up. He called Mr. Ma, who, upon answering the phone, turned around and complained to him:

"Mr. Wang, what's going on? I've never encountered anything like this before, where even an appraisal company couldn't handle it. What's wrong with you?"

Mr. Wang held the phone, speechless, thinking to himself, "I want to do it, but they won't give me a chance to do it. They won't even have a meal with me. What can I do?"

Mr. Wang used to work in bank lending and had dealt with appraisal companies before. Those appraisal companies, if you win them over with food and drink, and you do the same for them, which appraisal company won't turn a blind eye when issuing a report? The reports will all be inflated, meeting both your requirements and the bank's requirements, making everyone happy.

Mr. Wang had never seen such an impartial evaluation report before, nor had he expected it.

Mr. Wang said to Mr. Ma, "Mr. Ma, could you talk to the finance company for me and ask if we could switch to another appraisal firm?"

"How can we change it? You've already got a bad reputation with the finance company. They all know your situation. Who would dare to take on this hot potato? Nobody dares to touch you."

"Mr. Ma, could you please introduce me to another finance company?" Mr. Wang pleaded.

"Mr. Wang, have you forgotten that I'm the investor? I wasn't scared by you and I even answered your call, which is already being very considerate of you. I was just called over by Mr. Li and given a good scolding for all the lousy projects I've taken on."

Mr. Ma kept shaking his head on the other end of the phone. After a while, he said to Mr. Wang:

After his initial excitement subsided, Mr. Wang began to calm down. He reviewed the whole incident in his mind and began to have doubts, wondering if it was a scam and if he had encountered a complete fraud scheme.

However, Ma's company was not among the list of entities impersonating him published on the website. It seems they didn't forge any official seals or fabricate any shareholdings; they simply used the name of China Investment Corporation (CIC).

When Mr. Wang called the number on the website, the person on the other end told him that the company he was referring to was not their subsidiary and had no connection with them whatsoever.

Mr. Wang is right.

My friend continued, "If this is true, then their assessment report is fine. On the contrary, it only proves that they are a very good and reputable assessment company. What are you going to sue them for? Sue them for not falsifying data? Or sue that so-called CIC or something-or-other investor? They didn't take your money, and they didn't exaggerate their affiliation with CIC."

When you open the CIC website, there is a floating window on the homepage that reads "Statement on guarding against fraud by impersonating our company". Mr. Wang clicked on the statement, which said that some criminals have been found to be using forged official seals, false equity structures and other means to intentionally mislead the public into believing that they are associated with CIC and to carry out illegal operations.

"But that's how they wrote it, and it's not wrong, right? Not all companies should respond to the national call?" the police officer asked.

Mr. Wang still had one question: how could a company like this be a state-owned holding company?

He checked Mr. Ma's company and found that it was indeed a state-owned holding company, unlike the typical fraudulent shell companies. He checked their business license, company name, address, and legal representative, and it was exactly the same as the one he had seen in person—Mr. Li.

"They followed all the agreements, everything was agreed upon in the agreements. You paid the appraisal company the appraisal fee, and they also issued you an appraisal report. The appraisal company did not make any mistakes either," my friend said.

Mr. Wang said, "But I couldn't make it."

Mr. Wang said yes, the people have arrived, and the reports have all been issued.

"You just need to go to the relevant departments that have approved it, and they will tell you that names like 'China Investment Corporation' and 'China International Capital Corporation' are just common names, and there is no regulation that says these words cannot appear in the company name. By the way, you said their company also has a legal department. What do you think their legal department does? They design the whole process to make it legal, so that people like you have no loopholes to exploit."

"Well then, Mr. Wang, why don't you continue working on things with your bank? Once you've got things going there, I can help you work on things with Mr. Li, okay? That's the most I can do to help."

"What I would do is not let a hundred companies fail. If that happens, the Economic Investigation Department can determine that the whole thing is a scam. I will follow this process and succeed in a few companies. Whether those companies are their own affiliated companies or companies they actually control, I will succeed in a few companies. This will show that our company's business is real and not a scam."

After his lawyer friend broke the whole thing down and analyzed it bit by bit, Mr. Wang realized that it was indeed true. From the first time he followed Xiao Yu to their company, he was destined to lose so much money. He was just a piece of meat on the chopping block, being chopped off piece by piece by them.

"You've really met a master," his friend said, looking at Mr. Wang. "Now you're completely helpless and can only accept your bad luck. Consider the million-plus yuan as tuition."

The police officer shook his head: "Then we have no evidence and no way to determine whether their behavior constitutes fraud. You could try going to court and see if you can sue them for a contract dispute."

That's the end of the matter; it can't go on any longer. Mr. Wang has thrown away over a million yuan and only received two evaluation reports.

The police asked Mr. Wang, "Did the other party fabricate a claim in your presence that their company is a subsidiary of the China Investment Corporation you mentioned?"

Mr. Wang thought back carefully and realized that there really wasn't any. Neither Mr. Li, Mr. Ma, nor Xiao Yu had ever told him that their company was a subsidiary of CIC. He had assumed that they were a subsidiary of CIC, but that was just his imagination. He had only seen that their company name started with the words "CIC" and assumed that they were related.

"Did they come here to conduct an assessment and issue an assessment report?"

"See? Isn't the whole process perfectly designed? It takes advantage of your psychology, making you push yourself step by step, and then you have to keep asking them for help. You walk to the edge of the cliff yourself and then jump off; they didn't push you."

Mr. Wang was still not giving up, so he found the website of CIC. CIC's full name is "China Investment Corporation", which is a wholly state-owned company established with the approval of the State Council and engaged in foreign exchange investment management business.

At the time, this film company held 60% of the shares in this company. This film company probably no longer exists, but its status as the major shareholder here still exists. Several business registration changes have taken place, but the major shareholder has remained the same; only the minority shareholders and the legal representative have changed. Therefore, to this day, this company is still a state-owned holding company.

Mr. Wang nodded and said yes.

"So, you and the appraisal company agreed on this price beforehand, right?"

"Like a mute eating bitter melon, unable to express the suffering, right? Countless individuals and companies have been harmed by them every year, but there's just nothing that can be done about it. On the contrary, if you spread negative information about them online, saying they are scammers, they will immediately come after you, and you will definitely lose and suffer losses. That's why there's no negative information about them online."

"You transferred 500,000 and 600,000 to the appraisal company?" the police officer asked.

In the days that followed, even if Mr. Wang wanted to cause them trouble again, it would be impossible; he simply didn't have the time. He was already overwhelmed with people coming to cause him trouble every day; where would he find the time and energy to go looking for trouble with others?

Mr. Wang consulted a lawyer friend. After hearing the whole story, the friend told Mr. Wang, "You should save your breath. Even if you sue in court, you will definitely lose. There is no chance of winning at all."

"Who says an assessment report can only say good things about you?" my friend asked. "National regulations stipulate that assessment companies must conduct assessments based on facts, not on the client's requests. They say your company is risky; tell me, have they fabricated any facts? Have you done anything related to those two points they mentioned?"

Mr. Wang could only nod.

The police then asked Mr. Wang if the other party had fabricated their company name. Mr. Wang said no, that was the name registered with the business administration department. The police then asked Mr. Wang where the money went, and whether it was transferred to the other party's company. Mr. Wang shook his head again, saying no, the other party hadn't received a single penny, not even travel expenses.

In addition, he visited their company website, which stated that the company responded to the national call and vigorously supported the development of western China, the transformation of old industrial bases in Northeast China, and the construction of new rural areas. These impressive titles made him mistakenly believe that they were indeed a large state-owned company.

This company has been registered for over ten years, and one of its original shareholders was a film company. Previously, almost every county in the country had a film company, and these film companies, like Xinhua Bookstore, were state-owned enterprises before the restructuring.

Mr. Wang argued, "A company like ours would only go to companies with flaws; otherwise, we could just go to a bank. Why would we go to them?"

My friend found this company online, and after investigating further, even my friend exclaimed that it was too clever and too deceptive. They didn't even fabricate this part; they really are a state-owned holding company.

Mr. Wang was indignant and exclaimed, "But that evaluation report is useless!"

"Let me tell you, in Beijing, there are a lot of companies that use names like CIC, CICC, CNPC, Sinochem, etc., to make people mistakenly think they are state-owned enterprises. There must be something fishy about the approval of these company names, but they still got approved."

"They just need to proceed with all the previous steps in an orderly and normal manner, and then at the end, they'll come to a halt and end the matter in a reasonable and legal way. They know that only companies like yours will come to them, which is why they let you continue step by step. If it were a really good company, a company without any flaws, they would have rejected it from the beginning."

"I also suspect this whole thing is a scam, but it's just a suspicion. I can't find any evidence, and even if the Economic Investigation Department intervenes, there's nothing they can do. They're really skilled. Let me tell you, if I were their company's legal counsel, I'd be sure they've done this before."

Mr. Wang was speechless when asked the question.

"Who says you have to do it? The Economic Crime Investigation Department can't possibly force them to give you the money, can they? When you go to the bank for a loan, you're mostly rejected, with few successful applications. Do banks guarantee that every applicant will get a loan? If they don't lend you the money, that's your own problem. You've already been identified as a high-risk enterprise by the assessment company, so why should they lend you the money?"

After hesitating for a day, Mr. Wang decided to go to the police station to report the case. After listening to Mr. Wang's account of the whole incident, the police officer who received the report also felt that it was difficult to handle, as it did not meet the requirements for filing a case and it was difficult to determine whether the other party's behavior constituted fraud.