• President of UOKiK Tomasz Chróstny has initiated proceedings against Total Finance from Warsaw which had offered investments in vehicles and profiting from their rent.
• The charges concern misleading consumers as to the lack of risk of such an investment as well as the ATV data indicated in the agreement.
• The entrepreneurs are at risk of a fine of up to 10% of their annual turnover.

An entrepreneur being a sole proprietor operating under the business name of Total Finance from Warsaw encouraged consumers to make untypical investments. They consist in the conclusion of an “Investment Agreement”, payment of PLN 10,000 for which ATV is purchased and then profiting from its rent. It is also possible to finance the purchase of the vehicle with a loan. The project is advertised on the Internet with such slogans: “Investment with a collateral”, “Guaranteed rate of return: 20%”,” “Is it guaranteed at you Bank? No! And with us IT IS GUARANTEED.”

President of UOKiK has pressed two charges to the entrepreneur. Both of them involve misleading consumers. Firstly, the entrepreneur provided false information indicating assured profit and security of the investment. However, in the opinion of President of UOKiK, such a project may bear high risk due to, among others, the lack of an appropriate investment collateral by the entrepreneur or due to the fact that a consumer is going to buy the goods that they have never seen before. Secondly, there are doubts about the vehicle data which were entered in the agreement and invoices. Among them is the VIN which is assigned by the manufacturer. However, the vehicle was to be purchased only after the conclusion of the agreement therefore its VIN number could not yet be known.

In the course of the preliminary investigation – even before the charges had been pressed to the entrepreneur – representatives of UOKiK, with the consent of the court, carried out an inspection with the use of the "mystery customer". During the talks aimed at concluding the agreement, the entrepreneur was asked about the possible risk of the project. They ensured: “I see no threat, no risk here”. During the inspection, doubts were also raised about the insurance of the vehicle: according to the agreement, it was to be paid by an entrepreneur who, however, claimed in a face-to-face conversations that it was not needed at all. In the ready-to-sign agreement, the ATV description included the VIN number together with the TAO MOTOR KING brand and after verification it occurred that it was the Bashan vehicle number.

- Each entrepreneur is obliged to provide consumers with clear, unambiguous, and true information about the product or service offered. It is not acceptable to mislead customers in order to create confidence and persuade them to invest. Before taking a decision on using the offer or not consumers must have comprehensive information at hand enabling them to assess the risk” - says Tomasz Chróstny, President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection.

If the charges of misleading are confirmed, the entrepreneur will be threatened with a fine of up to 10% of turnover.

President of UOKiK conducted an investigation into ARB from Gdynia whose offer was presented by Total Finance from Warsaw. The entrepreneur themselves was a natural person on the ARB's board of directors but they resigned shortly after the initiation of the investigation procedure. In the past, they were also a majority shareholder and president in Auto Rentier and Praebeo against which President of UOKiK issued decisions in December 2019 imposing fines for unfair practices against consumers. The offer of these companies was similar to the investment projects encouraged by Total Finance.

As early as 2019, President of UOKiK notified the prosecutor's office of a suspected commitment of an offence which consisted in causing consumers to manage their assets unprofitably by persons acting on behalf of Praebeo and Auto Rentier companies. In 2020, he also informed the investigators about the initiation of the preliminary investigation into ARB and its related entrepreneurs and recently about pressing charges of infringing collective consumer interests to Total Finance. The case is investigated by the Regional Prosecutor's Office in Koszalin.

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