When Chinese peer-to-peer lending platform Hengjin Dai launched last June, it used a three-day promotion to lure investors. Just 12 hours later its website went dark.
In a similar case the 22-year-old founder of Boliya, another P2P platform, whom state TV had featured as a model young entrepreneur, suddenly vanished.
Police in Chengdu, the capital city of western Sichuan province, told the Financial Times they were investigating the case but declined to provide further details. Local media quoted a company employee saying they owed investors substantial sums.
Even as P2P lending has grown dramatically in China over the past year, and venture investors have flocked in, analysts say that the industry has become a breeding ground for fly-by-night operators who once inhabited the world of informal lending.
More than 136,000 people per day on average were involved in China’s P2P industry — as lenders or borrowers — in December last year according to figures from P2P001.com, a website that tracks the industry. That was more than triple the 39,000 in January. Loans outstanding reached Rmb139bn ($22bn) by year-end.
But Chinese media is rife with tales of mismanagement, hacker attacks and allegations of fraud.
Users reported problems with 275 separate P2P platforms in 2014 out of a total of 1,575, according to statistics from Wangdaizhijia, another industry website, based on reports from users. Another 32 have emerged so far in January this year.
Of the 275 problem platforms reported in 2014, 60 were reported to have owners who ran away and 71 were labelled as “scams”. Some platforms fell into both categories. Most other problems involved users unable to withdraw cash from their accounts.
But analysts say the lack of regulation has enabled the industry to deliver relatively low-cost loans to an increasing number of small businesses that struggle to access finance from banks, corporate bonds, and other traditional channels.
“P2P lacks meaningful regulation at the moment, but the groups that these platforms serve are also those that traditional, standardised financial institutions have neglected,” says Kang Xiaomi, analyst at P2P001.com.
“Setting aside the outright scams, and platforms raising money for their own use, and other fake P2P platforms, there are some that operate very good, standardised platforms.”
While P2P platforms in the US are increasingly drawing in institutional funds, China’s online lending industry is still overwhelmingly the province of retail investors seeking higher returns than those available on traditional bank deposits.
The industry is also tapping into established informal financing networks that have long been the primary source of funding for small businesses. Businesses that once turned to family, friends and cash-rich local entrepreneurs for high-interest loans can now access a more competitive market.
In 2012 the coastal city of Wenzhou — known for its small factories, pictured, and the less-regulated lending networks that serve them — established a financial-reform zone intended to bring private lending out of the shadows and expand financing options for small firms.
The move came after Wenzhou experienced a damaging chain of defaults on informal loans in 2011. While economists lauded the goals of the pilot project, its impact has been minimal.
Meanwhile, for all its problems, analysts say that P2P firms have done more to increase standardisation and lower costs of informal lending than the state-led approach used in Wenzhou.
“Compared to private lending, P2P offers borrowers a higher quality, transparent, convenient and personalised financial service,” says Ms Kang.
去年6月，中国个人对个人(P2P)贷款平台“恒金贷”上线后，宣布将开展为期3天的促销活动，以吸引投资者。12小时后，该网站打不开了。
还有一个案例是，另一家P2P平台“铂利亚”22岁的创始人突然跑路了。中国中央电视台曾把他作为青年创业者模范进行报道。
四川省会成都市的警方对英国《金融时报》表示，此案正在调查中，但拒绝提供更多细节。当地媒体援引一名铂利亚员工的话称，他们欠了投资者很多钱。
过去一年里，P2P借贷活动在中国发展得十分迅猛，风险投资家们也纷纷入股P2P平台。但分析人士表示，该行业已成为那些曾经潜伏在非正规信贷领域的投机者的温床，这些人唯利是图，不讲诚信。
跟踪P2P行业的网站“第一网贷”(P2P001.com)的数据显示，去年12月，中国P2P行业平均每天参与交易的人数（贷款人和借款人）高于13.6万。较去年1月的3.9万增加了两倍多。截止去年底贷款余额达到1390亿元人民币（合220亿美元）。
但中国媒体关于P2P平台的报道中充斥着管理不善、黑客攻击和欺诈等各种说法。
另一家行业网站“网贷之家”根据用户报告汇总得出，2014年中国共有1575家P2P平台，其中有275家出了问题。今年1月以来又有32家P2P平台上线。
在2014年被用户指出的275家问题平台中，据称有60家老板跑路，71家被称为“骗局”。有些平台同时符合这两种情况。其他大多数平台的问题，是用户无法提现。
但分析人士表示，缺乏监管使得该行业能够为数量越来越多的小企业提供成本相对较低的贷款，这类企业很难透过银行贷款、发行公司债等传统渠道融资。
“目前P2P缺乏有效监管，但这些平台所服务的群体也正是那些被传统、标准化的金融机构所忽略的群体，”第一网贷分析师康小密表示。
“抛开那些彻头彻尾的骗局、自融平台以及其他假冒P2P平台，也有一些运营良好的标准化平台。”
在美国，P2P平台正吸引越来越多的机构资金，但中国网贷行业主要仍是散户投资者的天下，他们希望获得比传统银行存款更高的收益。
中国网贷行业也在利用既有的非正规融资网络，这种网络长期以来一直是小企业的主要融资来源。那些曾经向亲属、朋友和资金充沛的当地企业家借入高息贷款的企业，如今可以进入一个更具竞争力的市场融资了。
温州是一座以大量小工厂以及为小工厂服务的受监管较少的贷款网络而闻名的沿海城市。2012年，温州成立了一个金融改革试验区，旨在让民间借贷走出影子金融地带，为小企业提供更多融资选择。
此前的2011年，温州发生了一连串危害极大的非正规贷款违约事件。尽管经济学家们称赞该试点计划的目标，其实际成效却是微乎其微的。
同时，尽管存在这样那样的问题，分析人士表示，相比温州采用的政府带头的做法，P2P公司采取了更多措施，以提高非正规信贷的标准化程度，降低成本。
“与民间借贷相比，P2P为借款人提供了质量、透明度、便利度和个性化程度都更高的金融服务，”康小密表示。