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Journalism of Courage
In a bizarre incident, a man from eastern China was duped by a gym after spending over 871,000 yuan (more than Rs 1 crore) on memberships and personal training sessions for 300 years. After subscribing to the gym, the man discovered that the gym’s management had disappeared with the money.
According to a report by the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the man sought the police’s help in exposing Ranyan Gym, located in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province. Jin provided 26 contracts he had signed with the gym, covering various membership deals and private coaching packages, the SCMP report said.
“From May 10 to July 9, I bought about 1,200 lessons and membership cards with an accumulative validity period of 300 years, at a total cost of 871,273 yuan,” Jin told the police, as quoted by SCMP.
A regular customer for three years, Jin said he was first approached on May 9 by a gym salesperson who pitched an exclusive deal for long-term members. The offer involved buying a one-year membership for 8,888 yuan, which the gym would then resell to new clients at 16,666 yuan. According to the salesperson, 10 per cent of the profit would go to the gym, and the remaining 90 per cent would be returned to Jin.
“At first, I was sceptical, but the sales worker guaranteed it would work out to my benefit. He said if they did not sell it within two months, they would return all the money to me,” Jin explained.
Tempted by the profits, Jin initially bought two memberships for over 17,000 yuan. Encouraged by staff over the following weeks, he kept investing, eventually spending more than 300,000 yuan in a single transaction.
He expected a portion of his investment to be returned on July 15. A staff member claimed the finance department was still “reviewing” the transaction. By the end of July, Jin learned that the gym’s management and sales team had disappeared.
Adding to the complications, Jin admitted that none of the contracts included clauses about the promised returns or investment aspects. The memberships were also non-transferable.
“I admit that I have been brainwashed by them. I believed I was only one small step away from getting back all my money,” Jin said.
