Advertising to attract traffic, job interviews, cheating on loans, pick up the car and then sell it.
The whole chain of high-paying driver recruitment scam exposed
Our all-media reporter Kuang Xue Correspondent Han Yan Zhao Yanan
◆Recruiting truck drivers, with a guaranteed monthly salary of 12,000 yuan, no need to load and unload goods, zero down payment to purchase a car, and stable supply of goods... The advertisements on the recruitment platform with generous salaries and benefits have made many job seekers excited. However, behind the very tempting high-paying recruitment, it is actually a series of scams carefully laid out by criminals.
◆During the interview as a truck driver, Kang promoted the "zero down payment car purchase" plan to the job seekers, falsely claiming that there was no need to pay management fees if he chose this plan, and he could also enjoy the company's priority distribution benefits. The company could also assist in applying for loans. The car would be registered in the driver's name, and he would get a car for free after three years of operation.
◆Kang carefully designed the fraud routine of "draining traffic-interview-loan-payment" to attract job seekers from different industries. He falsely reported the vehicle sales price to trick job seekers into overpaying for car loans. When it comes to picking up the car, they use excuses such as "insufficient loan limit" to coerce and induce the job seeker to apply for another loan, and then kill him again.
Recruiting truck drivers, with a guaranteed monthly salary of 12,000 yuan, no need to load and unload goods, zero down payment to purchase a car, and stable supply of goods... The advertisements on the recruitment platform with generous salaries and benefits have made many job seekers excited. However, behind the very tempting high-paying recruitment, it is actually a series of scams carefully laid out by criminals. Many job seekers joined the company with great visions, but in the end not only did they not make any money, but they were saddled with hundreds of thousands of yuan in car loans. When defending their rights, they even encountered the dilemma of empty houses and no way to seek help.
High-paying job recruitment is actually a trap
One day in July 2023, Mr. Liu, who lives in Jinan, Shandong and has been unemployed for nearly half a year, saw a message on a recruitment app: "Recruiting truck driver! Monthly income guarantee of 12,000 yuan, C1 driver's license is enough, stable supply of goods!" Mr. Liu immediately contacted the company leader Kang to arrange an interview. The interview location was at the company registered by Kang in Huaiyin District, Jinan City.
During the interview, Kang made it clear that the company would arrange orders based on the driver's address, ensure a fixed source of goods and arrange return distribution, and the driver would not be responsible for loading and unloading the goods. Seeing Mr. Liu's eagerness to find a job, Kang took advantage of the situation and launched three cooperation models: "rent a car", "bring a car" and "buy a car". Among them, "rent a car" and "bring a car" require high management fees. If you choose the "zero down payment car purchase" plan, the driver not only does not need to pay management fees, but also enjoys the company's priority distribution benefits, with high income and sufficient supply of goods.
"Don't have a car? It's not difficult to solve. We will help you get a loan. The car will be in your name. After three years of driving, you can get a car for free." Under Kang's guidance step by step, Mr. Liu was dazzled by the beautiful vision of "having a car and having a high salary" and accepted the "zero down payment car purchase" plan on the spot. He muddleheadedly signed the entrusted car purchase agreement, mortgage loan contract, information service contract and other documents. Only one of these documents was signed, and all of them were taken away by Kang after signing.
On the day he picked up the car, Kang told Mr. Liu: "The car price is 188,000 yuan, and the loan was only approved for 155,000 yuan, leaving a balance of 33,000 yuan." Mr. Liu, who was short of money, was in trouble. "I've already applied for a car loan of more than 100,000 yuan. Do you still care about this? I'll help you apply for an online loan." Kang quickly loaned out the "final payment" for Mr. Liu from multiple loan platforms and transferred it to his own account.
After picking up the car, Kang arranged for Mr. Liu to deliver ingredients to a logistics company. However, the reality is completely different from the beautiful vision promised by Kang. The company arranges very few goods sources. Mr. Liu not only needs to be responsible for loading and unloading goods, but also searches for return goods sources on the open logistics information platform. After working for three months, Mr. Liu calculated the income and costs and found that the maximum monthly gross income was 4,000 yuan. Excluding gas expenses, road and bridge tolls, and even having to repay the car loan.
Mr. Liu angrily approached Kang and asked for an explanation. However, it was only then that he discovered that he didn't even have a contract in his hand, and at this time, Kang's phone number was empty. After asking others, Mr. Liu learned that the company where Kang arranged for him to join was not under his name, and Kang had no right to determine salary or dispatch supply. At this point, Mr. Liu suddenly realized that he had fallen into a trap.
Step by step to squeeze out the driver
From July 2023 to April 2024, Kang registered a number of shell logistics companies with names such as "Group" and "New Energy", and carefully designed a fraud routine of "draining traffic-interview-loan-payment".
Kang first spread the word and placed advertisements with "guaranteed high salary, return trip delivery, no loading and unloading" as bait on multiple popular job hunting apps, specifically to attract job seekers from across industries. He then made interviews, fabricated the company's strength and supply, and advocated that buying a car with a loan was the most profitable, inducing job seekers to buy a car with a loan. Then he implemented a "zero down payment" fraud, in which Kang falsely reported the selling price of the vehicle and let the applicants The employee applied for a car purchase loan in excess of the amount, and after the car purchase price was paid into the car sales company's account, he instructed the car sales company to transfer the funds in excess of the vehicle's selling price into his personal account; when he picked up the car, he "cheated again" and demanded 20,000 to 40,000 yuan in gimmicks such as "insufficient loan limit," "collecting information fees," and "paying service fees" to coerce job seekers into taking out another loan.
In fact, Kang never provided the job seekers with the promised employment positions and supply guarantees, but only casually affiliated and introduced drivers to third-party logistics companies to work. When a job seeker discovers a discrepancy in income and comes to defend his rights, he stalls by prevaricating, making excuses to adjust the route, accusing the job seeker of not being able to endure hardship, etc., and eventually changes the company address, blocks contact information, and completely loses contact.
Full-chain evidence collection to defeat fraud and disguise
On November 26, 2024, the public security agency transferred the case to the Huaiyin District Procuratorate for review and prosecution.
Due to Kang's concealed modus operandi, most of the victims were job seekers from different industries, generally lacked industry experience, had weak legal awareness, and were large in number and geographically dispersed. The case once fell into the dilemma of "difficulty in detecting victims, difficulty in reporting and identifying the case, and difficulty in obtaining evidence."
The procuratorial organ guided the public security organs to fix the key evidence and peel off the pretense of "civil dispute" and "commercial fraud": Kang's income came from the falsely reported car price, the price difference caused by the driver's over-loan and the additional balance collected during the pick-up process. The profit model was completely inconsistent with the normal logistics enterprise business model; the seized speech manual confirmed that he systematically carried out fraud; the flow of funds clearly showed that all the money fraudulently ended up in an account controlled by Kang; the victim's bank statements were retrieved to prove that the actual income was less than 30% of the promised salary. After investigation, Kang defrauded more than 20 job seekers of more than 500,000 yuan.
On May 25, 2025, the Huaiyin District Procuratorate launched a public prosecution in this case in accordance with the law. On April 16 this year, the court sentenced Kang to ten years and six months in prison for fraud and fined him 100,000 yuan.
Kang was dissatisfied with the first-instance judgment and appealed. On August 24, the Jinan Intermediate Court issued a ruling rejecting the appeal and upholding the original verdict. The judgment is currently in effect.
