Housing agents sent to prison

Housing agents who occupied seats in restaurants at busy times, gave them poor ratings online and made malicious complaints about them to the local market watchdog were jailed at Jing'an District People's Court on Monday.

The 15 agents from Shanghai Tonglian Real Estate Brokerage Firm had suspected the restaurants were trying to avoid agency fees by bypassing them to sign contracts with property owners. 

The agents, 10 men and five women, were aged from 21 to 32 and received prison terms ranging from eight to 13 months.

They also made prank calls to the four restaurants. Their actions seriously affected business, forcing two of the victims to pay them nearly 100,000 yuan (US$14,263).

Prosecutors said the harassment began in August last year. 

Between August 28 and 31, they went to a restaurant on Tianmu Road W. during peak hours on four occasions, occupying seats and harassing the diners. One gave it a low rating on Dianping.com.

The owner, Song, paid them 72,000 yuan to stop the harassment.

Two months later, they used same method to harass another restaurant on Zhejiang Road M.

The owner, Wang, paid them 22,500 yuan.

In April this year, they targeted two restaurants on Ziteng Road in Minhang District and Linfen Road in Jing'an District. They urged others in a WeChat group to give the restaurants low ratings on Dianping.com and also complained to market supervision and management authorities about "food-borne diseases."

On April 24, the 15 people were apprehended by police at the final victim's barbecue restaurant.

Four of the members were considered the chief culprits, with the other 11 regarded as accomplices who could be given more lenient punishment, prosecutors said.

Lawyers for the agents told the court their clients were first offenders who just wanted to help their colleagues and had just participated in part of the harassment.

The court was told that customers' bypassing agencies to sign contracts was a major problem for the industry.

However, the court said there was not enough evidence to prove that the agency had a deal with the victims or that the victims had bypassed the agents to sign contracts. Also, agreements between the two sides signed before properties were seen stipulated that either side could seek legal help if the other side violated it.