Chengdu Police Bust Trade-In Fraud: Ex-Employee Stole 3,711 Appliances, Causing RMB1.69M Loss
Chengdu police cracked a trade-in fraud case in which a former e-commerce platform employee exploited a system loophole to obtain 3,711 appliances without payment, causing a loss of RMB1.69 million. The suspect used 86 accounts, including those of relatives and current staff, and resold most goods at a discount. Three suspects were detained, and the platform has fixed the vulnerability.
In May 2026, police in Chengdu, Sichuan, received a report from an e-commerce platform about a large number of abnormal orders in its backend. All these orders were placed under the platform's trade-in promotion, but the old appliances were never collected, while new goods continued to be shipped, with each order showing a final payment of RMB0. A preliminary count put the number of such abnormal orders at 3,711, and based on the purchase price, the platform suffered a loss of RMB1.69 million. Police immediately launched an investigation and found that the orders were linked to 86 buyer accounts, with delivery addresses vaguely pointing to a single area in Chengdu, lacking specific building numbers or recipient names.