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The Art of Deception
Ms. Liu from Ziyang, Sichuan, rented a phone through a rental platform to solve her urgent financial needs, but ended up with only 7,500 yuan in cash while incurring over 15,000 yuan in repayment debt. Calculations show that the annualized interest rate on this loan exceeds 100%. This is not an isolated case but a true reflection of the chaotic &#34;phone rental loans&#34; in the current market. Many consumers in need of funds have fallen into such high-interest traps due to their gullibility towards the promotional claims of cashing out through phone rentals.
As regulatory bodies continue to crack down on high-interest cash loans, various illegal cash loan models are gradually receding, and industry compliance is steadily improving. However, some unscrupulous entities, in an attempt to evade regulatory constraints, have disguised high-interest lending practices under the guise of &#34;credit leasing,&#34; giving rise to the covert high-interest borrowing model known as &#34;phone rental loans.&#34;
What appears to be a fashionable and personalized trend for young people can quickly turn into a &#34;hunting ground.&#34; This type of business, boasting &#34;0 down payment for phone rentals&#34; and &#34;rent and own,&#34; seems like a new form of rental consumption. However, it has formed a complete cash-out industrial chain tightly colluding with rental platforms, loan intermediaries, and phone recyclers, becoming a typical variant of high-interest cash loans.
This issue of &#34;The Art of Deception&#34; will focus on how intermediaries, rental platforms, and phone recyclers collaborate to set traps, using tactics such as 1 yuan temptations, high-interest packaging, hidden costs, and information abuse to lead consumers in need of funds step by step into traps.
Received 7,500 yuan in cash but has to repay 15,000 yuan
In the gray operations of phone rental loans, many consumers find themselves easily trapped in an inescapable debt quagmire once they step in. The vicious cycle of &#34;renting to pay off loans&#34; has become a common experience for many victims, where what seems like an urgent cash solution is, in fact, a high-interest shackle that ensnares them.
&#34;Received 7,500 yuan in cash but has to repay 15,000 yuan.&#34; Ms. Liu from Ziyang, Sichuan, urgently needed money and, upon the recommendation of an intermediary, rented a phone through a rental platform, thus falling into the predicament of high-interest phone rental loans.
Under the guidance of the intermediary, Ms. Liu rented an iPhone 16 Pro Max (256GB) on the JiTang rental platform in November 2025, resulting in a total rental fee of 15,398.5 yuan. According to the repayment bill, this rental fee needs to be paid in 12 installments, with each installment amounting to approximately 1,300 yuan
The Southern Metropolis Daily reporter found that at that time, the price of the same iPhone 16 Pro Max on platforms like JD.com was about 7,500 to 8,000 yuan, clearly indicating that the total rent of 15,398.5 yuan far exceeded the market price. Under the burden of this high rent, Ms. Liu only received 7,500 yuan in cash.
Ms. Liu's experience is a typical case of high-interest &#34;rent-to-own&#34; loans. To obtain 7,500 yuan in cash, she incurred a total debt of over 15,000 yuan. Calculations show that the actual annualized interest rate (IRR) of this loan has exceeded 100%, approaching 160%.
There are many consumers, like Ms. Liu, who are deeply trapped in &#34;rent-to-own&#34; loans. On the Black Cat platform, complaints related to &#34;renting phones&#34; have reached 37,164; searching with the keywords &#34;renting phones + fees&#34; yields 6,641 related complaints. Among these complaints, in addition to JiTang Rent, platforms such as XuRent, JuTou Rent, and QiaoRent are also frequently mentioned.
These rental platforms often use Apple phones as their main rental category due to their high unit price, allowing the platform to charge higher rents. Some consumers, lured by intermediaries, rent multiple Apple phones simultaneously, ultimately accumulating debts of hundreds of thousands of yuan; some consumers unable to repay have fallen into the nightmare of violent debt collection.
The endless complaints and real victim cases expose the high-interest chaos behind rent-to-own loans and confirm the personal harm this model poses to consumers.
&#34;First installment 1 yuan&#34; bait scheme, a three-party &#34;hunting&#34; profit-sharing game
Faced with such high rental costs, why do many consumers still fall victim and even flock to it? Looking at the behind-the-scenes industrial chain, the Southern Metropolis Daily reporter found that this is actually a hunting scheme set up by intermediaries, rental platforms, and mobile phone recyclers, with each party playing its role and sharing profits, leading consumers in need of funds step by step into traps.
Intermediaries play a key role in this hunting scheme, with various enticing advertisements constantly appearing on social platforms. &#34;No deposit, fast approval, rent phones for cash, easily monetize...&#34; are common promotions. Some intermediaries target young people's consumption habits with slogans like &#34;Just the price of a cup of milk tea a day&#34;; others attract individuals with multiple debts by promoting &#34;no thresholds, no credit checks.&#34;
It is worth noting that these intermediaries specifically target individuals with funding gaps. Ms. Liu, who was interviewed, told reporters that she had previously sought assistance from a debt management agency for borrowing and left her contact information. This time, when consulting for a loan, she was contacted by a loan intermediary and recommended to a phone rental intermediary. She intended to monetize her phone to alleviate her urgent financial needs but ended up falling deeper into debt.
To help borrowers pass platform reviews, intermediaries also teach renters specific &#34;scripts&#34;: if the platform asks about the purpose of the rental, they must say it is for personal use and must not mention the intention to cash out.
The rental platform is the creator of inflated contracts. For consumers who enter the platform through intermediaries, the platform will sign contracts that are significantly higher than market prices based on the rental model, causing consumers to bear high rental debt from the very beginning
To further attract consumers, some platforms have also launched the bait of &#34;first installment 1 yuan.&#34; On the Black Cat Complaint platform, a consumer stated that on August 11, 2025, he was induced to lease an iPhone 16 Pro Max (512G), with the loan repaid in 12 installments, where the first installment was only 1 yuan, and subsequent payments were 699 yuan each. Behind the seemingly favorable price, he was required by the platform to bundle a 398 yuan premium service and pay a 1500 yuan deposit. Moreover, after the 12 installments, he would still need to pay a buyout fee of 7690 yuan. Lured by the &#34;1 yuan first installment,&#34; he ultimately incurred over 15,000 yuan in debt.
Four Core Tricks Hidden
In the entire model of mobile phone leasing loans, the phone often never comes into the borrower's hands but is directly sent by the platform to a recycling merchant designated by an intermediary. Ms. Liu also confirmed that the phone she rented never reached her hands; after the platform shipped it, it was directly mailed to a third-party recycling merchant.
A review of multiple mobile phone leasing loan cases reveals four core tricks hidden in this three-party hunting: First, high-interest packaging, disguising high interest and fees as &#34;premium rent,&#34; &#34;screen damage insurance,&#34; &#34;service fees,&#34; etc., to evade regulatory caps on loan interest rates; second, hidden costs, with contracts concealing high buyout fees and penalties after expiration, exposing consumers to significant financial losses when returning or defaulting on the lease; third, information abuse, collecting personal information beyond the scope and frequency under the guise of &#34;credit assessment,&#34; including contacts, location, facial recognition, device permissions, etc., posing risks of information leakage and malicious use; fourth, aggressive debt collection, where once consumers default, the platform resorts to illegal means such as phone harassment, contact list exposure, and home disturbances to collect debts, severely impacting the normal lives of consumers and their families.
Crackdown
Cleverly Wrapped in &#34;Leasing&#34; Illegal Cloak, Judicial Sword Strikes to Regulate Gray Areas
The chaos of mobile phone leasing loans has long attracted the attention of regulatory authorities and judicial bodies. Various regions have not only continuously issued risk warnings and carried out rectification actions, but judicial authorities have also severely cracked down on illegal activities related to mobile phone leasing loans through typical cases. Despite the heavy-handed approach, the survival space of mobile phone leasing loans continues to be compressed, yet this business model still navigates the gray areas of regulation due to its concealed operational methods.
In fact, as early as September 2025, the Shenzhen Special Task Force Office for Preventing and Combating Illegal Financial Activities issued a document pointing out that the market had seen &#34;credit leasing,&#34; &#34;0 yuan purchase,&#34; and &#34;rent and give away&#34; as gimmicks for &#34;mobile phone cashing&#34; businesses, which are essentially illegal high-interest loans disguised as leasing.
On the evening of February 24, 2026, the Hainan Provincial Local Financial Administration issued a risk warning regarding the illegal operations of six types of local financial organizations without operating qualifications, directly naming five small loan companies suspected of violating regulations through &#34;mobile phone leasing&#34; to conduct small loan businesses.
Observation
Tear Off the False Label of &#34;Financial Innovation&#34;
Renting machine loans are not so-called &#34;financial innovations,&#34; but rather an illegal business model that uses mobile phones as a medium to bypass the concept of &#34;lending.&#34; It is labeled as leasing but is essentially a form of &#34;trap loans&#34; fraud. The individuals involved collect disguised &#34;kickbacks&#34; under the guise of deposits, home visit fees, and signing fees, with victims receiving only 50% to 70% of the phone's price, while being burdened with false high debts that are several times the actual amount received.
In essence, &#34;renting machine loans&#34; is a digital &#34;transformation&#34; of traditional usury under a strict regulatory environment. It utilizes the legal facade of the rental economy and conceals the true purpose of illegal lending through complex transaction structures. From the regulatory dynamics and judicial cases across various regions, a consensus is forming to rectify the chaos of renting machine loans. However, fundamentally addressing this issue still requires a concerted effort from consumers, platforms, regulatory authorities, and other parties, each fulfilling their roles and employing multiple measures.
For consumers, it is crucial to remain vigilant against enticing marketing terms and promotional tactics such as &#34;0 down payment,&#34; &#34;low monthly rent,&#34; and &#34;instant approval.&#34; They should abandon the mindset of &#34;taking shortcuts to borrow money&#34; and clearly recognize that &#34;renting machines for cash&#34; is essentially borrowing at high interest rates. They must not fall into traps due to temporary financial needs. If one inadvertently encounters this type of &#34;trap loan,&#34; it is essential to properly preserve relevant evidence such as contracts, transfer records, chat logs, and collection records, and promptly report to the public security authorities to protect their rights. If sued by the other party, they should actively respond and assert the invalidity of the relevant contracts in court to safeguard their legal rights.
Southern Metropolis Daily Research Issue No. 891
Overall Planning: Li Ying
Execution Planning: Lu Liang
Reporting: Southern Metropolis Reporter Wu Hongsen
Illustration: Zhang Jingwei (generated by Doubao AI)

Ms. Liu from Ziyang, Sichuan rented a mobile phone through a rental platform, actually receiving 7,500 yuan in cash, but needing to repay over 15,000 yuan in debt, with an annual interest rate exceeding 100%. This phenomenon reflects the chaos in the "rental loan" market, where many consumers fall into high-interest traps due to believing in misleading advertisements. Against the backdrop of strengthened regulation, criminals disguise high-interest lending as "credit leasing," forming a complete high-interest lending industrial chain. Such models attract young people with gimmicks like "0 down payment rental," but in reality, they lead them into a debt quagmire

Setting a trap for "hunting," the annualized interest rate for rental machine loans exceeds 100%