Can you believe the "1 yuan purchase" new Apple mobile phone advertisement
App "gold" routine survey
□ Our reporter Han Dandong
□ Our intern Guan Chuyu
"Members buy a mobile phone for one yuan." When Ms. Lin from Maoming, Guangdong saw this advertisement with an iPhone 13 mobile phone on a short video platform, she couldn't help being tempted to click and download an app called "×tui", and then recharged 39.9 yuan to become member.
However, after becoming a member, Ms. Lin could not successfully "purchase" a mobile phone for 1 yuan. The app page reminded her that the welfare fund was insufficient.
After consulting the customer service, he replied: "Only after meeting the welfare payment displayed on the product page, you can add 1 yuan to purchase a mobile phone. You can pay 39.9 yuan to buy an annual membership card to get 49.9 yuan in welfare payment. If the welfare payment is insufficient, you need to buy an annual card membership again."
According to Ms. Lin's calculations, if you recharge enough welfare funds, the recharge amount needs to reach more than 10,000 yuan, which is much higher than the price of the iPhone 13 mobile phone on the regular e-commerce platform.
"It's not a lie!"
A reporter from the "Rules of Law Daily" recently investigated and found that there are many apps that advertise "1 yuan purchase" and "0 yuan purchase", claiming that paying one yuan or even no money can get mobile phones and other goods, or download software, watch advertisements, etc. Get a free lottery chance to win mobile phones and other products, which attracts many consumers, many people like Ms. Lin after entering the game shouted.
"Is it true that you can buy an iPhone 11 for 1 yuan on the × push app?" This was a question on Zhihu in May last year. 28 netizens shared their experiences of being deceived under this question, and the number of views reached 212,000.
A year later, this "game" continues.
Recently, the reporter downloaded and pushed the App to experience and found that the App is carrying out the activity of "1 yuan can buy the iPhone 13 Pro with the original price of 12,999 yuan".
Click to enter the product details page, the price column displays "￥1, price ￥12999, exclusive to members".
When the reporter clicks to buy, the platform prompts the reporter to become a member to obtain the purchase qualification.
The reporter noticed that there is also a special prompt below the price of the product, "the original price is ￥12999, 12998 yuan for welfare, pay 1 yuan".
So is this "12,998 yuan welfare" a direct gift from the app, or how to get it?
After contacting the customer service of the app, the reporter was told: "The purchase of the member-exclusive gift activities requires the corresponding amount of welfare funds. The welfare funds can be obtained by directly purchasing the welfare funds or by inviting friends to return the welfare funds."
According to reports, opening a monthly card of 9.9 yuan can get 9.9 yuan of welfare money, and opening a 39.9 yuan annual card can get 49.9 yuan of welfare money; inviting friends to open a monthly card and an annual card can get 5 yuan and 20 yuan of welfare money respectively.
That is to say, if you want to successfully buy this iPhone and only rely on your own membership to get benefits, you need to open a membership for about 261 years, costing 10,393 yuan, plus 1 yuan to pay a total of 10,394 yuan.
If you only want to spend 1 yuan to buy, you have to invite 650 friends to open an annual card.
The same Apple mobile phone is priced at 8799 yuan on Apple's official website.
Many netizens, like Ms. Lin, only found out after spending 39.9 yuan to become a member that "1 yuan purchase" is difficult to achieve, and it is difficult to get a refund.
The reporter noticed that the ×tui app also presented a so-called "limited-time benefit for newcomers", that is, a chance to get a free order.
The reporter selects a mobile power supply and clicks "Get it for free". The result jumps out of the page and asks the reporter to complete the task (that is, download an online game app and try it out for 1 minute) to get it for free, but the reporter repeatedly operated as required without success.
Some users commented below the app: "There is no free order at all. After completing the task as required, it still fails. It's all a routine."
There are far more apps that play this kind of "game" than × push one.
The reporter learned from an interview that many apps such as "×× save money", "× tile", "× Hui Miao" and "Reward × Duo" have launched similar activities such as "1 yuan purchase" and "0 yuan purchase".
XX Save Money App launched the “1 yuan to kill iPhone12” campaign. Ms. Li from Yangzhou, Jiangsu downloaded the app after seeing the advertisement, and paid 29.9 yuan according to the pop-up window.
As a result, it was impossible to participate in the seckill event at all, and the 29.9 yuan paid was inexplicably regarded as a membership fee and could not be refunded.
×Watt App launched the "Happy Shopping for New People" campaign, advertising 29.9 yuan to kill household washing machines and other products, and only after consumers paid 29.9 yuan did they find out that the 29.9 yuan was the cost of recharging members.
Many consumers complained on the third-party complaint platform that they thought that 29.9 yuan was a bargain price, but did not expect to become a member, but when they contacted customer service to defend their rights, the manual customer service was always busy and could not be contacted at all.
"From now on, I don't care if you like it or not, I will immediately take this 0 yuan iPhone 12 home immediately, no ordering, no bargaining, and half the event time, isn't it delicious to spend 0 yuan to send relatives and friends? Don't you see the video? Hesitate any more, I'll tell you how to get 0 yuan in seconds." The reporter saw such an advertisement on a short video platform.
The reporter clicked the link below the video to download an app called "Reward × Duo".
The App page shows: If you want to kill iPhone 12 mobile phones and other products with 0 yuan, you must watch the video advertisements promoted by the platform to get a lottery code to participate in the lottery.
The number of advertisements on the app page is dizzying, including various software advertisements that claim to make money by playing games and reading, and advertisements on various online loan platforms.
And an app called "XX Saving Money" advertised "iPhone12Pro snap-up price of 1 yuan" with the text "Congratulations on catching up! The original iPhone12Pro mobile phone is only this price today."
The reporter downloaded the app in the mobile software store and clicked on the activity of "1 yuan to take away the new mobile phone", but the message "9.9 yuan to open a member" popped up.
It turned out that the so-called "1 yuan to take away the new mobile phone" is carried out in the form of a lottery. The user's snap-up code and the lottery code are the same as the winning lottery, and the way to obtain the snap-up code is to spend money to open a membership.
Some users commented that they spent more than 200 yuan and got nothing.
With all this, people can’t help but ask: Can online shopping platforms carry out publicity and activities in the form of “1 yuan purchase” and “0 yuan purchase”?
Are the above-mentioned “1 yuan purchase” and “0 yuan purchase” activities illegal?
Han Yingwei, partner of Yingke Law Firm's global headquarters, believes that shopping platforms, as operators, should strictly follow relevant laws and regulations, and clearly price goods and services; The user shall provide a detailed, true, comprehensive and accurate description of the rules of use, and shall not have false or misleading publicity behavior; for the consumer's inquiries about goods or services, a true and clear answer shall be made, and consumer supervision shall be accepted.
"The above-mentioned apps mislead and fool consumers to recharge in the form of 'subsidy money'. In fact, consumers themselves 'subsidize' themselves, thereby causing losses. The behavior of merchants violates the principle of good faith and is suspected of false propaganda, false advertising, and even fraud." Han Yingwei said.
Zhu Wei, deputy director of the Communication Law Research Center of China University of Political Science and Law, said that the mode of "1 yuan purchase" and "0 yuan purchase" itself is a consumption trap, which induces consumers to buy higher-priced products or draws traffic; at the same time, Consumers get virtual currency by recharging, and merchants limit the consumption scope and proportion of virtual currency, which leads to damage to consumers' rights and interests.
Relevant law enforcement departments should carry out special rectification for this chaos.
Regarding the question of how consumers can protect their rights after being ripped off, Zhu Wei said that if the standard terms of the app have the right to unilaterally interpret, expand their own rights, and reduce the rights of consumers, such standard terms are invalid, if consumers sue to the court , according to the "Provisions of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in the Trial of Online Consumer Dispute Cases (I)" issued in March 2022, the people's court should determine that the standard clause is invalid.
"If consumers encounter similar routines and their legitimate rights and interests are damaged, they can file a complaint with the Consumers Association, requesting the Consumers Association to investigate or disclose it through the mass media; they can also complain and report to the market supervision and management department, and make a complaint about the business operation. administrative punishment for the unlawful acts of the operator; retain relevant evidence, file a civil lawsuit in the people's court, and require the operator to bear the corresponding civil responsibility and safeguard his legitimate rights and interests." Han Yingwei said.