The fraud of Extremaduran smartphones that stuck their logo on Chinese mobiles

The terminal of Zetta is identical to the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3. Consumers associations accuse them of placing their image of the acorn bitten in Chinese mobile phones and selling them at higher prices

   Spanish picaresque has exploded the latest scandal in the world of technology. The 31-year-old Extremadura entrepreneur Unai Nieto and his Chinese partner Eric Cui, launched a mobile phone two years ago with which they dreamed of competing with Apple, but at a much cheaper price.

They had even come to Spanishize the popular brand of the apple and Zetta mobiles wore a bitten acorn in the purest country style. However, behind this history of entrepreneurship and innovation there is a supposed fraud that the Facua consumer association and many Internet users have denounced this weekend through social networks.

Now, two years after launching its Zetta Multiverse 5.5 model and having eight points of sale in Extremadura, fraud has been uncovered. Although the facts are still being investigated, Zetta is accused of selling Xiaomi Chinese mobile phones to those who put a sticker on their brand.

The exterior of the Zetta, which sold for about 300 euros, was identical to the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3, which costs about 150 euros. Inside the phone, a sticker behind the battery hid the logo of the Chinese brand.

On Sunday, the company closed its website alleging that it had been attacked (Our website is under attack, so it can not be visited at this time, sorry for the inconvenience.) And soon after it did the same with its social networks.

Investigation for "massive fraud"

Facua has requested on Monday the Junta de Extremadura the immediate opening of an investigation to determine if there has been a massive fraud by Zetta in the marketing of their smartphone.

The spokesman of Facua, Ruben Sanchez, has justified this request in the complaints that have appeared since yesterday in social networks and media, in which it is indicated that this mobile phone "supposedly manufactured in Extremadura" was nothing more than a device of another brand , manufactured in China, "and to which the casing has been changed".

Sanchez indicates that it is not that the company is unlocalizable, but that it is refusing to make statements, so the question "is quite clear", as well as that there have been irregularities. At the moment, neither in the Civil Guard nor the National Police have reported complaints about this alleged fraud, as reported by the Government Delegation.

If you bought a Zetta mobile, they must return the money. They have closed their website. We hope that the Prosecutor's Office and the Junta de Extremadura act, alerted yesterday from Facua.

The websites specialized in technology were amazed that in just six months they had created a mobile from scratch and with an operating software from Android. The operating system, according to Internet users, has not been developed by the firm, but uses Cyanogen, an open source software.

The president of the Junta de Extremadura, Guillermo Fernández Vara, met with the two young entrepreneurs last November.

Consumption will analyze the case

The Ministry of Health and Social Policy of the Junta de Extremadura has explained today that the open controversy over the so-called 'smartphone Extremadura' will be analyzed by the General Secretariat of Consumer Policy.

There could be a case in which Consumo will initiate an ex officio file, because as of today there is no claim made in this regard. Depending on the nature of the report, if it is carried out, the regional administration would adopt some initiative or proposal, added the same sources, which have ruled out that the Government Council will deal with this matter tomorrow.

Certain sectors could have detected a business niche, although not always legal, in the sale of cheap Asian terminals in the West that seem to have complicated access to certain European markets, added from Internet associations.