• Incorrect information on the scale of business, unrealistic plans for the future – Farma Mleka deliberately misled consumers in order to encourage them to invest.
• In fact, instead of hundreds of cows, it had 11 of them at best.
• The President of UOKiK Tomasz Chróstny imposed financial penalties on the company and its head – in total over PLN 150 thousand.

Farma Mleka from Poznań offers consumers unusual investments. It encourages them to lend it loans for the purchase of cows and then make profits from the sale of milk. The entrepreneur promises huge earnings - up to 16% per year. It presents its offer to potential investors online, on leaflets and during webinars. An employee of UOKiK took part in one of them in June 2021 as the so-called “secret customer”.

During this meeting, organised for potential investors, the President of Farma Mleka assured that the company cooperated with 7 farms and had about 300 cows and plans to expand herds to 10,000 bovine animals on 50 farms within 3-4 years. He also stressed the safe nature of the investment, indicating the insurance of farms and contracts with dairies. Similarly, optimistic visions were presented in leaflets.

UOKiK determined that these assurances were very different from reality. According to information obtained from the Agency for the Restructuring and Modernisation of Agriculture, Farma Mleka has only bought 11 cows during its entire operation. The company only had a contract with one farm and this was terminated through its fault in April 2021. It also did not have a contract with a dairy. Despite commitments being made to other consumers who invested their money in the project, Farma Mleka has also ceased buying cows starting in November 2020.

- The company and its president intentionally misled consumers in order to persuade as many consumers as possible to invest. They did not stop these practices even when the only agreement with the farm they had was terminated. If consumers knew what the company’s situation really is and what the prospects for its development look like, they could consider that the risk is too high to invest their money in this project - says Tomasz Chróstny, President of UOKiK.

The President of UOKiK issued 2 decisions punishing Farma Mleka for infringing the collective interests of consumers and for failing to provide the requested information. The president of the company who prepared and implemented the misleading marketing strategy of the company will also be financially responsible for deliberate admission to irregularities against consumers. In total, sanctions amount to over PLN 150 thousand. In accordance with the terms of the decision, they were imposed on:

• “(...) Farma Mleka spółka akcyjna with its registered office in Poznań in connection with the violation of the prohibition referred to in Article 24 (1) and (2) (3) of the aforementioned Act (...) in the amount of PLN 45,994.00 (say: forty-five thousand nine hundred ninety-four zlotys) (...)”
• “(...) Michał Mierzejewski – President of the Management Board of Farma Mleka spółka akcyjna with its registered office in Poznań in connection with the intentional violation by the aforementioned Company of the prohibition set out in Article 24 (1) and (2) (3) of the aforementioned Act (...) in the amount of PLN 60,000.00 (say: sixty thousand zlotys) (...)”
• “(...) Farma Mleka spółka akcyjna with its registered office in Poznań (...) in the amount of PLN 50,000.00 (say: fifty thousand zlotys 00/100), equivalent to EUR 10,870.98 (say: ten thousand eight hundred seventy euro 98/100), for failure to provide information requested under Article 50 (1) of that Act (...)”.

Farma Mleka must immediately stop practices that violate the collective interests of consumers and remove their effects by communicating the irregularities found on its website and Facebook.

The President of UOKiK also informed the Public Prosecutor’s Office of the possibility of committing a crime of fraud by the President of Farma Mleka.

Consumer Support:

Phone: 801 440 220 or 222 66 76 76 – consumer helpline
E-mail: porady@dlakonsumentow.pl
Consumer Ombudsmen – in your town or district

Additional information for the media:

UOKiK Press Office
Pl. Powstańców Warszawy 1, 00-950 Warszawa, Poland
Phone +48 695 902 088, +48 22 55 60 246
E-mail: biuroprasowe@uokik.gov.pl
Twitter: @UOKiKgovPL