A devastating financial collapse rocked China’s Guangdong province in mid-April 2025, leaving thousands of retail investors scrambling after losing ¥1.34 billion ($180 million) to the JYS Group’s fraudulent schemes.
The company, which targeted investors across Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Foshan, and Zhongshan, promised cushy returns between 6% and 9% annually. Their sales pitch? Oh, just your typical “totally safe” municipal infrastructure investments. Spoiler alert: They weren’t. Investors were heavily pressured by aggressive sales agents to invest more, with some individuals committing over eighty thousand dollars based on manipulative tactics.
Instead, JYS Group dove headfirst into the risky world of P2P lending, cryptocurrency, and stock speculation. The initial investigation by authorities revealed financial mismanagement losses of nearly $10 million from each failed investment venture. The company even had the nerve to claim connections with state-owned enterprises, hosting financial literacy seminars and leveraging family networks to rope in unsuspecting investors.
JYS Group masqueraded as a legitimate enterprise while gambling with investors’ money through P2P lending schemes and crypto speculation.
Chairman Lin Chunhao, the mastermind behind this financial disaster, didn’t stick around to face the music. He announced his escape to the UK through WeChat, of all places. In his farewell message, Lin claimed personal losses of $96 million and blamed the collapse on interest payments, staff salaries, and operational costs. How considerate of him to explain where everyone’s money went.
The scheme’s structure was deliberately confusing. JYS Group’s financial products were managed by Shenzhen Haiboxin Project Management Co., Ltd. – a company that shared offices and staff with JYS while pretending to be independent.
Both operations shut down simultaneously when the house of cards finally collapsed. Local authorities and the Shenzhen Public Security Bureau’s Economic Crime Investigation Division are now picking through the wreckage.
Meanwhile, investors who trusted the company based on its supposed state-owned enterprise connections are left holding the bag. No recovery or restitution has been offered to date.
The whole debacle serves as a textbook example of investment fraud: high returns promised, risk downplayed, and legitimacy fabricated. When the dust settled, all that remained were empty offices in Shenzhen and Zhongshan, frozen assets, and a lot of angry investors wondering how they fell for it.
