AIP Closes Stores Without Warning; Police Investigating|4門市無預警歇業 AIP上下游被騙逾億

The AIP home electronics brand is reported to have gone bankrupt. It has been operating in southern Taiwan for less than five years. Its four stores closed without warning on the same day. Because the stores had a membership system, the owner of the company is suspected of having fled with membership prepayments and group buying funds. Over 500 upstream manufacturers, employees and consumers have been swindled out of over NT$ 100 million.


In one night, three parties including a newlywed couple and a family on the verge of moving into a new home file police reports against AIP. Just days after they shelled out big bucks for home electronics from AIP, the company closed all four of its stores in southern Taiwan.

(My son) took part in a group purchase deal with lower prices. He is moving into a new home soon and wanted to get all his appliances first.

AIP was an up and comer in the home electronics market with four stores in Kaohsiung, Tainan and Pingtung and electronic distribution and group-purchase networks on Facebook and Line. All four stores shut down without warning on the 17th. The company launched a paid membership program in March and was still running group purchase deals up until the stores closed. The Electrical Commercial Association of Kaohsiung, which AIP was not a member of, believes the company defrauded over 500 victims of over NT$ 100 million.

Some of the employees also bought shares in the company, which means the (fraud) amount is even higher. They paid hundreds of thousands to one million NT dollars for their shares.

The association says AIP attracted customers by offering "unreasonable" prices 10 percent below market prices, and the sudden closure of the stores could be evidence the company was running a premeditated scam.

Consumers that charged their purchases to a credit card can file a dispute with the card-issuing bank. It's possible they may not have to pay for this.

One consumer protection official says the whereabouts of the company owner are unknown and a class action suit is a possibility if fraud is proven. The Labor Affairs Bureau is also investigating the company for owed wages.



一個晚上，台南東門派出所來了三位民眾，有剛新婚和準備搬新家的，都要報案他們向AIP家電購買全套家電可能已經被騙，因為業者收款後，不到幾天南部四家門市竟同時關門。

被害人表示：「（兒子)他們好像就是有碰到團購，就說團購比較會有優惠，他就是想說那就是趁交屋前， 然後就是先訂。」

AIP是近年在南部竄起的家電賣場，在高雄,台南和屏東共有4家門市，也在臉書和LINE經營電子通路和團購，17日開始四家門市同時不營業，但3月業者才剛召募收費會員，近日並持續發起團購。AIP雖然未加入家電公會，但公會也接獲消息，估計被害人超過500名，被騙金額超過上億元。

高雄家電公會理事長 蔡志亮表示：「有一些他的員工也有加入，他們認購的股東，那這樣金額就更會更高，因為加入股東 至少幾十萬到一百萬都有。」

家電公會指出，業者以低於市價一成的方式吸引客人，近兩年接獲消費者來比價就覺得不合理，傳出倒閉令人懷疑是預謀詐騙。

高雄市消保官 林輝雄表示：「刷卡的話，消費者可以向發卡銀行，來申請爭議款項的處理，這個部分有可能不需要去負擔這個費用。」

消保官強調，目前業者不知去向，若確認是惡意倒閉，可以提起團體訴訟。至於業者欠薪情況，勞工局正在調查。