A woman named Li from Guangdong Province recently reported online that she had unknowingly become the guarantor for a 396 million RMB loan of a company in Shanghai. This news became a hot topic on Baidu’s search trends on October 14th.
On October 11th, Li posted a video claiming that she discovered through querying her credit information at the People’s Bank of China that she had inexplicably become a guarantor for a 396 million RMB loan made by Shanghai Liye Supply Chain Management Co., Ltd. at Huarui Bank of Shanghai, of which she had no prior knowledge.
According to a report by Red Star News on October 12th, in March 2024, Li Sufen needed to borrow a large sum of money from a friend. After viewing her credit report, the friend refused to lend her the money, claiming that Li Sufen had guaranteed a multi-million RMB loan. It was then that Li Sufen discovered she had unwittingly become a guarantor for a total of 396 million RMB in loans. The loan management institution was Huarui Bank of Shanghai, with the main borrower being Shanghai Liye Supply Chain Management Co., Ltd. Transactions totaling 10 payments had been made since February 28, 2024, with the same contract number. However, Li Sufen’s family members stated that she had never been in contact with the lending company or related banks before and was completely unaware of the guarantee, emphasizing that “she has always been in Guangdong and has never been to Shanghai.”
Li claimed that the company and the bank had illegally used her personal information, employed non-compliant and fraudulent means, potentially involving substantial fraud. She has reported the incident to the police.
A relative of Li, Mr. Xie, told Global Times that Li had never acted as a guarantor before and had no previous dealings with the aforementioned company. He expressed that she is under immense mental pressure. Li has already filed a police report in Shanghai.
A lawyer consulted by Global Times stated that if Li’s allegations are true, the matter could involve criminal liability.
Li’s family informed Red Star News on the 12th that they had communicated with the involved Shanghai Huarui Bank and reviewed the loan and guarantee contracts, revealing that the individual and the actual guarantor shared the same name, but the information such as ID on the contracts was correct, indicating a potential bank error in registration.
On the evening of the 12th, Shanghai Huarui Bank explained to Red Star News that the incident was caused by an error in the credit information reporting process of a customer with the same name, Li Sufen, due to a mistake by credit personnel, and it was unrelated to the main borrower, Shanghai Liye Supply Chain Management Co., Ltd. The correction was promptly made on October 9th.
As to why there was an error in the reporting process leading to the misinformation about Li Sufen and whether her personal information was leaked, bank staff stated that they currently do not have specific details about the reporting process but denied any information leaks.
Regarding the claim by the bank that the error was due to having the same name, internet users are skeptical. One user questioned the possibility of having the same ID number, while another pointed out the lack of face recognition or signature verification for such a substantial loan.
Public records indicate that Shanghai Liye Supply Chain Management Co., Ltd. was established in 2015 in Shanghai, engaged primarily in business services, with Li Jianping as the legal representative. The registered capital of the company was 25 million RMB, with 250 million RMB in actual paid-up capital.
Shanghai Huarui Bank of Shanghai is a privately-owned bank established by Meibang Apparel and Shanghai Junyao (Group) Co., Ltd. It was the second private bank in China, with registered capital of 3 billion RMB and headquarters in Shanghai.