A magic lamp promising health and wealth has captured the hearts of tens of thousands of mainland visitors flocking to Hong Kong on 'business inspection trips'.
But lurking inside the six Causeway Bay sales centres of Digital Crown Holdings (HK), known as DCHL, is not an Aladdin's genie but rather a multilevel marketing (MLM) strategy - illegal on the mainland but allowed in Hong Kong under a loophole in a law that forbids pyramid selling.
The lamps, made in France, burn essential oil and it's claimed that they sterilise the air and release ozone. They cost from HK$500 to more than HK$10,000, depending on how elaborately decorated they are, with members of the scheme enjoying different discounts and kickbacks linked to their seniority and how many members they recruit.
'Do you want to be a millionaire owning deluxe villas and luxury cars like BMWs and Audis while you are still young?' an instructor nicknamed 'Muscle Man' asks a room filled with at least 100 people aged from their late teens to their 60s. 'Is your current salary too little for you to afford a home amid today's soaring property prices?'
Several loud voices quickly answer affirmatively, swelling into a chorus.
Muscle Man tells them he was earning more than HK$60,000 a month just a few months after signing up as a distributor three years ago. Some of the mainlanders look shocked, sitting with mouths agape. Some whisper that they earn just 3,000 yuan (HK$3,650) a year back home.
DCHL was founded in Taiwan 12 years ago by Kim Huynh, a businessman from Zhongshan, Guangdong. Distributors are divided into seven levels of seniority that grow exponentially, with distributors encouraged to build up networks where each level is at least five times bigger than the one below it.