(Yicai Global) Sept. 26 -- BYD said it has reported to the police a Chinese company that falsely claimed it was acquired by a unit of the new energy vehicle maker.

BYD Guangxi New Energy is not a wholly-owned subsidiary of BYD Auto Industry, and it forged BYD’s company seal and the signature of its chairman, Wang Chuanfu, the Shenzhen-based automaker told Yicai Global on Sept. 24. The Nanning-based firm has not yet responded.

Nanning Xiaozhongzheng Business Secretary recently announced that all of its shares were acquired by BYD Auto Industry and that it would change its name to BYD Guangxi New Energy. But the Nanning Municipal Administrative Examination and Approval Bureau has canceled the firm’s application to change its name.

It is unclear whether the counterfeit seal used was created by Shangdian Seal Production, a seal engraver. That firm’s legal representative is Nong Caiyun, major shareholder and legal representative of Xiaozhongzheng Business Secretary, according to corporate information platform Tianyancha.

BYD has invested more than CNY16.3 billion (USD2.3 billion) in at least five big projects in Nanning so far this year, which may be a motive for the fraud.

This is not the first time BYD has found itself in such a situation. In May 2017, Li Juan, on behalf of Shanghai Yuhong Cultural Communication, contacted BYD to provide free advertising and later forged its seal to do business in BYD’s name, the carmaker said in July 2018. In December 2019, she was sentenced to 14 years in prison for contract fraud.

Editor: Futura Costaglione