Economy
Seven face music over KTV scam
(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-04-16 10:36
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Seven people stood trial in a local court for allegedly forcing customers to pay unreasonable bills at a karaoke bar.
They were accused of the crime of forced trading at Haidian district court, Beijing News reported.
Prosecutors allege that the seven made roughly 20,000 yuan this way starting in December 2008.
"The defendants selected targets before committing the crime and did not go after customers who looked poor," alleged Fan Jing, press official from People's Court of Haidian District.
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The group allegedly targeted newcomers to the city or business travelers, the newspaper said.
A victim surnamed Wang testified in court, saying that he and his colleagues were on a business trip to Beijing during which a taxi driver recommended Ding's club and drove them there.
Wang said they ordered only six bottles of beer, but the servers brought dozens of extra bottles as well as fruit platters.
When servers gave Wang a 6,200-yuan bill (nearly 5,000 yuan for the beer and 1,200 yuan as a service fee), he refused to pay. Wang said a waiter told him the girls paid to sing with him had ordered the extra drinks.
Then several men broke into the room and threatened not to let Wang and his colleagues leave without paying, alleged Wang.
Wang had no choice but pay the bill, the newspaper said.
"In this case, there were definitely sexual services involved," Fan alleged. "That is probably why the victims did not call the police."
Ding and the other six in his group targeted non-Beijingers because they assumed most out-of-towners would prefer to keep a low profile, alleged prosecutors.
Prosecutors also said the defendants gave discounts to customers from Beijing, in an attempt to keep local residents who witnessed the scams from reporting them to the police, the newspaper reported.
