My old Vancouver Sun colleague Chuck Chiang has dropped an exclusive in Business in Vancouver about a website that calls itself ‘the successor of the Vancouver Stock Exchange’, and is advertising to Chinese companies that they’re offering Canadian exchange listings for companies in Asia.
The claim is, obviously, fraudulent, and the exchange doesn’t exist, nor is it approved by the BCSC. In fact, it’s a sloppy old scam.
Zilin Wang, director of the Vancouver Stock Exchange Corp. (VSEC), said when reached via one of his company’s Chinese phone numbers that while his company aims to eventually create a stock exchange in Vancouver, its current operations involve getting Chinese companies listed in other markets like Nasdaq or the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX).
As such, Wang said he believes VSEC is outside of BCSC’s jurisdiction.
“We welcome the BCSC to contact us if they have any concerns, and we have been in touch in the past,” Wang said, adding the company is registered on BC Registries and Online Services. “When what we do legally requires us to go to the BCSC for permission, then we would comply 100%. The fact is, we are 100% legal.”
And 100% bullshit.
And, in case anyone in China needs help translating that:
vcvse.com 网 站 是 垃 圾
If you’re interested in what companies have either fallen for this scam, or are a part of it, or have just been dragged into it without their knowledge, here’s some listed on the VCVSE scam site:
- Shenzhen Jia Yi Agricultural Products Co., Ltd (深圳市农产品股份有限公司)
- Beijing Commodities Jing Yi Hotel Management Co. (北京品晶易居酒店管理有限公司)
- Bao Li Li Chemical Products (保洁丽日用品)
- Shenzhen Golden Point Internet Financial Services (深圳市金点石互联网金融服务有限公司)
- Shenzhen Qianhai Billion Branch Investment Fund Management Co. (深圳市前海亿科投资基金管理有限公司)
- Shenzhen Kang Li Ting Garment Co.(深圳市康丽挺服装有限公司)
- Shenzhen qi Lu Jiu Electronic Commerce Development Co. (深圳市柒陆玖电子商务发展有限公司)
That last one is interesting, because I suspect it’s the parent company of VSEC, being as almost every mention of it online comes on the VCVSE.com website.
From what we’ve found in our research, most of these companies are bullshit companies, with no internet presence other than registrations as shell companies, other than the occasional job posting. What it seems to indicate is that VSEC is either making up that these companies have asked for a ‘listing’ on its fake stock exchange, or it is selling listings on the fake exchange to the companies in question who have no idea VSEC is no more a stock exchange than I am an Olympic athlete.
Either way, the BCSC warns anyone who might get taken in that the thing is a fraud.
VSEC holds itself out as being the old Vancouver Stock Exchange (VSE). In fact, the VSE no longer exists, as it merged with another stock exchange in 1999. VSEC claims that, in June of 2016, the old Vancouver Stock Exchange was reinstated as an independent exchange.
It wasn’t.
Take it away, Emma Hampel at BiV:
According to the provincial government registry at BCLaws.ca, VSEC previously operated as Vancouver Equity Exchange Corp. The name was changed June 19, 2016. Prior to January 26, 2016, the company operated as 0980874 B.C. Ltd., which was incorporated September 19, 2013.
So where is this global empire of reinstated stock glory based?
No, not in the thriving Vancouver financial district of Howe Street. Not on Toronto’s Bay Street. Hell, not even in the depths of Chinatown, or Richmond where some 60% of the population is of Chinese origin.
Nope, this thriving financial mecca is based in Kitimat BC, population 8,355.
And it’s being run out of this hotel.
Uh, I mean motel. Uh, I mean fleabag flophouse.
You know you can trust a stock exchange when their exotic dancer waits four hours after market close before she hits the pole.
If you’re looking for a room in the Vancouver Stock Exchange, it’ll cost you $69.95. The floral bedsheets and retro wallpaper comes with no extra charge.
This is a place where the ‘dead cat bounce’ may be a literal term. A Google reviewer describes the hotel as, “semi old building with liquor store in it.” Hotel reservation website Booking.com recently removed it from its listings, presumably because all the rooms are taken by rich Chinese billionaires listing their companies on the Vancouver Stock Exchange.
On Yelp, the only reviewer gives it 1 out of 5 stars, and says “Please do not stay here. Do yourself the favour, pay the extra 40$ to stay anywhere but here. The staff that doesn’t speak any English are the least of your problems. Our room key actually opens up others peoples rooms (discovered this coming in late the first night). The hotel actually caught on fire in the strip joint downstairs during our stay. [..] I think it would be a favour to all of us if this caught on fire again.”
On Tripadvisor, the only review says, “There are no good rooms.”
But, boy howdy, are there some stock deals!
— Chris Parry
Golden bespoke listing of most Canadian VSE Murray Pezim style!