Charge 29.9 yuan to get 100 yuan call? There are consumption traps in multiple apps
Lawyer: Internet advertisers should be responsible for the authenticity of advertising content
A few days ago, a number of consumers complained that they had seen advertisements of "29.9 yuan recharge with 100 yuan for phone bills" in multiple apps, but then encountered problems when recharging.
After consumption, the consumer's 29.9 yuan will sink into the sea, or only receive coupons with a very high threshold, such as recharging 2,000 yuan in phone bills to enjoy the discount, or recharging for 20 months to use up these coupons.
Lawyers say such advertisements are false advertising and businesses should be punished.
In addition, Internet advertisers should be responsible for the authenticity of advertising content.
Recharge phone bill scams appear in many well-known apps
Netizen Mr. Li said that after paying the parking fee on Alipay, the advertisement of "29.9 yuan to recharge 100 yuan for phone bills" popped up. Out of trust in the platform, he clicked the link and entered his mobile phone number.
"After I clicked Recharge Now, I didn't receive the call credit information, but received a short message that I need to download the app to recharge the call credit." Mr. Li said, according to the text message, he downloaded an app called "Little Elephant Save Money" "App, after registering and logging in, he found out that he had been deceived.
"In the Little Elephant Savings App, I found out that the coupons are for recharging calls. If I recharge 50 yuan, I can only enjoy a discount of 2.5 yuan, and if I recharge 100 yuan, I can enjoy a 5 yuan discount, and so on. Fully enjoy the 100 yuan discount of 29.9 yuan recharge." Mr. Li said.
He said that during this period, there was no hint that the 29.9 yuan recharge was for a 100 yuan call coupon.
I then wanted to apply for a refund in the app, but I couldn't find a way to get a refund.
In this regard, Alipay responded to a reporter from Beijing Youth Daily that since the beginning of this year, the Alipay platform has continued to carry out special governance against malicious marketing behaviors through daily inspections and fixed-point inspections after receiving feedback from users.
For false marketing, exaggerated publicity and other behaviors, the platform will make corresponding actions in accordance with the State Administration for Market Regulation's "Interim Regulations on Regulating Promotional Behaviors", as well as the "Mini Program Violation Handling Rules", "Life Account Violation Handling Rules", "Malicious Marketing Penalty Rules" and other platform rules. governance and punishment.
Since January 2022, a total of 2,060 malicious marketing promotion links have been processed, and more than 400 illegal marketing merchants have been punished.
A reporter from Beiqing Daily learned in an interview that there are not a few consumers who have experienced similar experiences.
Beiqing Daily reporters found that similar problems exist on multiple platforms.
Similar pop-up windows can also be seen on platforms such as Baidu Express Edition, Sina Weibo, Mango TV, and Himalaya. Click to enter the recharge interface.
In the screenshot provided by a consumer, it can be seen that on the interface of choosing payment, the words "membership price" of 29.9 yuan for 100 yuan are very eye-catching.
In the small box at the bottom of the page, it is marked with gray words "100 yuan coupon package: 20 5 yuan coupons".
The small gray letters at the bottom of the page also indicate that you need to download the "Magic Privilege" App to receive coupons.
In addition, the subsequent recharge platforms pointed to are also different.
According to the incomplete statistics of Beiqing Daily reporters, in addition to the "magic privileges", there are also "Huihui Guide", "Yuecheng Call Charge Recharge", "Shopping Cats", "Province for Profits", "Save as You Come", "Meow Discounts"" Dozens of platforms, including Rainbow Box, have received complaints.
At present, there are a large number of netizens who have complained about the phone recharge trap on the Internet. Some have requested and received refunds from the other party through various channels, but more people have reported that the 29.9 yuan is "wasted".
Lawyers say platforms are equally responsible
Chen Yinjiang, deputy secretary-general of the Consumer Rights Protection Law Research Association of the China Law Society, believes that merchants attract consumers with advertisement content of "29.9 yuan to recharge 100 yuan for phone bills". This kind of advertisement is obviously suspected of deceiving and misleading consumers with false or misleading content. It is suspected of violating the relevant provisions of the "Advertising Law" and should be punished accordingly in accordance with the law.
"In this case, the Xiaoxiang money saving app is equivalent to an advertiser, and should be responsible for the authenticity of the advertising content and for the damage to consumers' rights and interests. The Alipay platform is equivalent to an advertisement publisher, and should know that '29.9 yuan recharge 100 yuan phone bills' advertisements are false or misleading, and they still publish such advertisements for the advertisers, and they should be jointly and severally liable with the advertisers."
In response to this kind of scam, Zhao Zhan, a lawyer from Beijing Yunjia Law Firm, said that the content of 29.9 yuan for 100 yuan of phone bills is inconsistent with reality, and even suspected of defrauding consumers.
Merchants who launch this kind of activity need to be responsible for this, and they need to perform corresponding contractual obligations to consumers as promised.
Technical aspects need to improve inspection measures
Why do such ads appear in large numbers?
A person familiar with the matter told the Beiqing Daily reporter that for the platform, the difficulty of this kind of advertising governance is that they are not placed in traditional advertising spaces, but in the advertising inserts next to the App, the payment result page, and the page that jumps out. etc. plugins, not directly on the platform.
"Sometimes these sites are third-party advertising spaces, and sometimes they are junk advertisements that pop up after hijacking the system. This is difficult to manage. The platform can only conduct constant inspections or deal with a large number of complaints." This also prompted, For the governance of false advertisements, the platform should improve the corresponding technical measures.
Text/intern reporter Zhuang Daiying, reporter from our newspaper/Wen Jing
Coordinator/Chi Haibo