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HONG KONG: A 19-year-old girl has declared bankruptcy after she fell victim to a multi-level marketing scheme that landed her with a debt of HK$110,000.

The victim, identified as Hui, said she reported the case last month but the police refused to investigate due to lack of evidence. But they have now made a U-turn after lawmaker Wong Kwok-hing accompanied Hui to complain to Commissioner of Police Tang King-shing Friday morning.

Hui, who graduated from Form Five last year, joined Lampe Berger, a well-known multi-level marketing company in Hong Kong, under a friend's persuasion last November.

She was told that she would be compensated HK$14,000 for each new person she introduced to the company.

"(The staff) took out several products including red wine and cosmetics, saying that the company has many overseas branches," Hui recalled.

She was required to pay HK$67,000 to buy the products and attend a two-day course before joining the company.

Without financial support, Hui borrowed HK$110,000 from three credit services under the company of her friend on the same day.

Hui failed to notice any abnormality despite the money lenders not asking for any guarantors.

"Actually I was very scared because it's my first time to have a loan," Hui said.

The money was then transferred to the staff's bank accounts. The course turned out to be a staff sharing session about how successful they felt after joining the company and not about sales practices.

Soon after, Hui introduced one of her friends to join the company but wasn't paid any remuneration. She could not get cash refund for the rest of the products as well. At that point, she realized she was being deceived by the multi-level marketing scheme, also known as pyramid selling schemes.

However, the graduate could not afford to repay the debt and applied for bankruptcy on June 1.

"Going bankrupt at only 19. It must be a joke in other's eyes," Hui said regretfully. "My family asked why I was so foolish. A friend whom you have known for six or seven years doesn't mean they are reliable."

Hui reported the case to police on May 8 but lack of evidence meant no action was taken. It took intervention Friday by lawmaker Wong for the police to change their minds.

"Many students lack social and work experience so they believe in others easily. They will also be lured into the job traps by the scale of the company and the attractive remuneration," Wong said.

He demanded stronger promotion to alert young job seekers of the dangers of fraudulent schemes.

Gary Tang, supervisor at The Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups, reminded teenagers to be careful in job hunting, especially during the summer holiday.

"They need to understand clearly the companies' background before joining and not be blinded by high salaries. They should also pay attention to news about job traps in order to prevent similar tragedies," he said.

(HK Edition 06/06/2009 page4)