Heard of China’s fake handbags and Rolexes? Now there’s a fake Goldman Sachs operating in Shenzhen
China has been accused of pirating movies, handbags, Rolexes - even cars. Add Goldman Sachs to the list.
China has been accused of pirating movies, handbags, Rolexes - even cars. Add Goldman Sachs to the list.
Goldman Sachs (Shenzhen) Financial Leasing Company has been operating in the city just across the border from Hong Kong using a nearly identical English and Chinese name as the New York-based financial institution, Goldman Sachs Group. It claims on its website to be one of the city's largest financial leasing firms.
A receptionist answering the phone at the Shenzhen company who declined to give her name said it's not affiliated with the US bank and wouldn't offer how it got its name, emphasising it includes Shenzhen. It's the first time she's been asked the question, she said.
Read more: After Goldman Sachs is pirated, here are 8 of China's most audacious fakes
A filing with the Shenzhen government indicates the company has been operating since May 2013. The company uses the same Chinese characters, gao sheng, as the real Goldman Sachs, and its English font is evocative of the US bank's.
Connie Ling, a Hong Kong-based spokeswoman for Goldman Sachs, confirmed there are no ties between the US investment bank and the Shenzhen company and said Goldman is looking into the matter.
It's not the only bank facing brazen name-borrowing. In a more extreme example, a 39-year-old man in eastern China's Shandong province was arrested earlier in August after setting up a fake branch of China Construction Bank, including card readers, teller counters and signs, according to the Xinhua news agency.