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鈥楶etty advantages鈥 behind online trickery
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A former business journalist with a large social media following has some Internet users crying foul.
The ruckus started when Kang Xia, 26, wrote on his WeChat account in mid-May that he planed to divide his collection of 1,471 books into lots which he would sell via the Internet. But several buyers said they got less than they bargained for. Several buyers, after posting photos of books they recieved from Kang, noticed that they had recieved the same tomes.
“I feel cheated, disappointed and angry,” wrote one buyer online. “I have sent the books back. Whether I receive a refund or not, this is a lesson learned.”
According to reports, Kang received 771,595 (US$124,381) yuan from around 6,500 buyers in 24 hours after he advertised his books online. Rather than offer refunds to buyers once his own books were sold out, Kang purchased an additional 6,000 new books which he passed of as part of his original collection.
According to online posts, some say that Kang sent out at least 10 copies of “Alice in Wonderland” as well as numerous copies of “The Boxer Rebellion, Peking 1900” by Italian writer Adriano Madaro, “My Dear President” by American author Gerard Gawalt and “Studies in Humanism” by FCS Schiller.
Kang apologized over the weekend on his Weibo account and promised to refund the buyers.
“Whatever his initial plan, he lost people’s trust in the end. It could have been a lovely story if only Kang had kept his word. He cannot be forgiven,” wrote one online commentor.
Episodes of fraud and deception committed via online platforms like Weibo and WeChat are nothing new in China. Despite a growing understanding about the dangers of trusting information online, many continue to fall prey to a host of traps.
On May 19, for instance, the Qingtian River Scenic Zone in Henan Province was crowded by visitors looking for free admission. Many of these visitors had read on WeChat that the famed scenic spot would be open for free from May 19 to 22 in celebration of the National Tourism Day.
While such promotions had been made in previous years, visitors this year were turned away as authorities had made no such offer. In the end, it was believed that word of the free admission had been made via an unrelated public account and then widely circulated.
In another instance, after sharing an advertisement from a well-known fast food chain via WeChat, Rainbow Zhao, a 31-year-old employee at a logistics company, failed to get the coupons which she believed her post entitled her to.
“It said that I wasn't one of the first 10,000 supporters. But I bet it was a fraud. None of my colleagues who tried it earlier received the coupons,” says Zhao, adding that this wouldn't be the first time she has suspected such behavior.
Zhao explains that in her view, the use of promotions for limited numbers of people seems to be an excuse to drum up clicks without offering any actual incentives.
Nevertheless, she continues to share advertisiting messages in the hopes of earnining freebies.
“Who knows whether I will win something next time? After all, it doesn’t cost me much,” says Zhao.
A private club in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province, was fined by 60,000 yuan in March after it failed to provide detailed information about coupons offered via a WeChat campaign. The club’s original advertisement stated that anyone collecting between 28 and 88 “likes” for its promotion advertisement would get a coupon. However, it ran into trouble when it failed to provide details about limitations on these conditions.
When surfing the Internet, people are more vulnerable because they often think what they do online is not connected to the reality, according to Zhang Qi, an associate professor of psychology at East China Normal University.
“For many people, transferring 100 yuan online is a much easier decision to make than physically taking 100 yuan out of their pocket and giving it to someone they do not know,” says Zhang.
Though a lust for petty advantages is widely seen as a reason why people engage in deception, sociologist Gu Xiaoming believes that a similar mentality motivates people who are tricked.
“Chasing little advantages online is more like a game to them. They aren’t seeking wealth in the same way they would in real life,” says Gu. “Not many people actually value little coupons and other give-aways, but they enjoy the feeling of being rewarded.”
And while some may criticize online platforms for spreading false information, Gu argues that the fast communication enabled by the Internet can expose instances of fraud and deception more quickly.
“There was just as much fraud happening decades ago, but it may have taken months or years for victims to realize they had been cheated,” says Gu. “But now, it may only take days.”
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