鈥楥elebrity bookworm鈥 writes a new chapter in online deception
Print Edition
鈥淐ELEBRITY bookworm鈥 Kang Xia, 26, has apologized for hoodwinking buyers over the sale of his books before leaving for New York to study at Columbia University.
When he advertised his collection of 1,471 volumes online last month, he received 771,595 (US$124,381) yuan from around 6,500 buyers in 24 hours.
Kang had said he would send seven books for 99 yuan or three for 60 yuan on a first-come, first-served basis until the books ran out and refund the rest.
But Kang, who lives in Beidaihe, a city about 285 kilometers east of Beijing, now admits buying an additional 6,000 books to send to buyers.
His ruse was uncovered when people who received books began going online to complain that something was fishy. Many found they were receiving the same books as others. Some complained about the poor quality of the books. Others said they received children鈥檚 books.
According to buyers鈥 postings, Kang sent out at least 10 copies of 鈥淎lice in Wonderland.鈥
Other books mailed more than once included 鈥淭he Boxer Rebellion, Peking 1900,鈥 by Italian writer Adriano Madaro, 鈥淢y Dear President鈥 by American author Gerard Gawalt and 鈥淪tudies in Humanism鈥 by FCS Schiller.
Kang apologized on his Weibo account.
鈥淪orry to all of you,鈥 he said. 鈥淵ou will all be refunded no matter whether you received books or not.鈥
Kang鈥檚 reason for the deception is unclear, though an interview he gave in Beijing at the weekend suggests he might have panicked when so many orders flooded in and bought the additional books to handle the demand. 鈥淚t was not a good thing to do,鈥 he told the interviewer. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 give it much thought. I was not expecting such a bad result.鈥
One Shanghai buyer wrote online: 鈥淚 feel cheated, disappointed and angry.
鈥淚 have sent the books back. Whether I receive a refund from him or not, this is a lesson learned.鈥
Another wrote: 鈥淲hatever his initial plan, he lost people鈥檚 trust eventually. It could have been a lovely story if only Kang had kept his sincerity until the end. He cannot be forgiven.鈥
When Shanghai Daily contacted Kang, he said he felt devastated but didn鈥檛 want to discuss the matter further.
Earlier, he had claimed to be a business journalist in China who had given up his job to study at Columbia鈥檚 School of International and Public Affairs.
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