WeChat applets, Fengchao pop-up advertisements are traps, Taoxingxing, Xiaoxiongkuaixing and other APPs, do you really save money on low-cost phone calls?

　　Our reporter Wang Xiaoyue

　　At present, when using Fengchao to scan codes to pick up express delivery, watch movies on video sites such as Mango TV and iQiyi, browse Weibo pages, WeChat applets, etc., you can often see pop-up advertisements about phone charge recharge, such as " 29.9 yuan top-up 100 yuan, 69.9 yuan top-up 200 yuan” and so on.

The reporter of "China Consumer News" recently discovered through actual experience that after clicking these pop-up advertisements, consumers need to download the app after paying 29.9 yuan or 69.9 yuan for calls, and the so-called "recharge of 100 yuan" or "recharge of 200 yuan" actually There are dozens of 5 yuan coupons with a consumption threshold set on it.

　　Consumer Complaints: Apps such as Taoxing Province and Xiaoxiong Kuaisheng have hidden traps

　　Nowadays, it is not uncommon to see pop-up advertisements such as "recharge 100 yuan for 29.9 yuan", "200 yuan for recharge at 49.9 yuan" and "200 yuan for recharge at 69.9 yuan". words, urging users to place an order.

　　On January 26, Ms. Wu, a consumer, told a reporter from China Consumer News that when she was browsing the WeChat mini-program, an advertisement popping up in Taoxing Province, "Pay 69.9 yuan to charge 200 yuan phone bill", made the payment. Received a text message saying that the APP needs to be downloaded.

"After I downloaded the app, I saw that the so-called 200 yuan phone bill was actually 40 5 yuan phone fee coupons, and the recharge of 100 yuan can only reduce 5 yuan. I couldn't contact the customer service, and there was no reply when I applied for a refund." Ms. Wu explain.

　　Ms. Wu said that during the payment process, there was no prompt about "recharging 69.9 yuan to get a 200 yuan phone bill, and you need to recharge 4,000 yuan to enjoy the 200 yuan discount", and the page shows that the coupon will expire in December this year.

"I saw someone on the social platform saying that the recharged phone bill has not arrived after a long time. I was worried that I would be cheated again, so I never dared to use the coupon for the phone bill." Ms. Wu told reporters.

　　Coincidentally, the post-90s netizen "Taozi" also said that she jumped to a lottery page when browsing the WeChat applet, and clicked on it casually, reminding her that she had won the lottery. It costs 29.9 yuan to recharge 100 yuan of phone credit. After payment, download the Taoxing province APP Only to find out that there are only full discount coupons.

　　Netizen "Niu Xiaojun" told the reporter that he was fooled by the advertisement that popped up when Fengchao picked up the express and scanned the QR code. The interface showed "You save 29.9 yuan to recharge and get 200 yuan for calls." After downloading the APP, he found that it can only be used after 100 yuan. 5 yuan coupon.

He wanted to apply for a refund in the APP, but he couldn't find a refund method.

　　On social platforms, the reporter saw that many consumers said they had similar experiences. The pop-up advertisements all used the banner of low-cost rechargeable phone bills to induce users to download the app, but in fact they were dozens of 5 yuan phone bill discount coupons.

Because most of the personal amount involved does not exceed 100 yuan, and the merchants cannot be contacted, many people can only consider themselves unlucky.

　　Reporter's experience: No response to the "self-service refund" app in Taoxing Province

　　The reporter learned that most of the software that these pop-up advertisements induce users to download is shopping software that claims to save money and save money.

　　What kind of "routines" are these businesses playing?

A reporter from "China Consumer News" downloaded the Taoxing app and found that there are different types of products displayed on the homepage. Although there is a "Shop Now" option, it is only a virtual button and it is impossible to place an order.

Although there is an option of "online customer service" on the page, if you click to switch to manual customer service, the page will display "transferring for you, please wait".

The reporter tried many times, but there was no response from customer service, and the dialog box was locked, making it impossible to enter text messages.

On the "Self-Service Refund" page of the automatic reply, it displays "Refund will be refunded to the original payment account within 24 hours".

However, the reporter submitted refund information many times without any response.

　　The reporter found out that the APP registration company in Tao Province is Beihai Haotian Hongyi Network Technology Co., Ltd.

The National Enterprise Credit Publicity System shows that the company has a registered capital of 1 million yuan and was established on September 22, 2022. Its business scope is Internet information services and the second type of value-added telecommunications services.

The main company of the Bear Kuaisheng APP is Yihui (Xiamen) Technology Co., Ltd., which was established in April 2021 with a registered capital of 1 million yuan.

The main company of Super Value Discount APP is Xuzhou Doumiao Information Technology Co., Ltd., which was established in January 2022, and its business scope is Internet information services.

　　It is not difficult to see that most of these companies are newly established small and micro enterprises.

The reporter tried to contact many companies such as Taoxing Province and Xiaoxiong Kuaixing, but they all indicated that the phone was turned off or could not be answered.

The official website links displayed by these companies on Qichacha also cannot be opened or redirected to other irrelevant corporate pages.

　　In addition to inducing users to pay through pop-up advertisements, the reporter noticed that after the payment is completed, through the mobile phone number filled in by consumers, some merchants will also send text messages to users, which contain links, claiming that "click the link to use membership rights" or induce consumption. or download the merchant's APP.

　　Expert Opinion: Platforms Should Be Responsible for Auditing Pop-up Ads

　　The reporter learned that in December 2022, the Zigong City Market Supervision Bureau and the Zigong Consumer Protection Committee of Sichuan Province issued a consumer warning to remind consumers to be alert to the trap of low-priced phone charge recharge in pop-up advertisements, and pointed out that the pop-up window The trap of low-cost phone charge recharge in advertisements. Some companies use pop-up advertisements as bait to induce consumers to continue to recharge and consume, advertise and attract traffic to some niche apps, and there are problems such as illegal financing risks.

　　The above-mentioned netizen “Taozi” told the reporter that when encountering pop-up advertisements on the web, she is generally more cautious and would not click on them at will.

But because it was a pop-up page of a big platform, I didn't think too much when paying, and mistakenly thought it was a promotional activity of the platform, and it was too late to find out that there was a problem.

Many consumers told reporters that when watching movies on platforms such as Mango TV and iQiyi or browsing information on Weibo and encountering phone charge recharge advertisements, the reason why they click on the pop-up window and pay is mostly out of trust in the platform.

So, what responsibility does the platform have to fulfill the advertisement pop-up window?

　　Regarding the trap of low-priced top-up calls reported by consumers, Hu Gang, deputy secretary-general of the Legal Work Committee of the Internet Society of China, told the reporter of "China Consumer Daily" that this behavior is suspected of consumption fraud and violated the legitimate rights and interests of consumers. The right to claim punitive damages of refunding one and compensating three, with a minimum compensation of 500 yuan.

　　These software itself may also involve many problems, such as excessively requesting various permissions on consumers' mobile phones, and abusing consumers' personal information.

Hu Gang reminded consumers to click on such links or download apps carefully to avoid infringement of personal information rights and fall into a "serial trap".

　　Hu Gang said that regardless of the size of the platform, it is necessary to review the legality of advertising information, advertising subjects, and advertising content.

If the content of the advertisement is untrue or illegal, and the platform is suspected of failing to fulfill its review responsibility, it shall bear the corresponding legal responsibility.

　　●Reporter's Notes

　　It is difficult to defend rights and urgently needs to be supervised

　　For the current rights protection dilemma encountered by consumers, it cannot be solved by fighting alone, but needs to be "network-to-network, general-to-general".

These kinds of disputes all happen on the Internet, and the amount of money involved in a specific consumer is small. It is very difficult for consumers to assert their own rights. It is necessary to carry out network-based dispute mediation, resolution, and punishment, and integrate all regulatory forces.

Consumer organizations can give full play to the advantages of public interest litigation or class action lawsuits, and concentrate their efforts to resolve related disputes on a large scale through the "head-to-head" approach.

The companies that make and operate APPs are often hidden behind the scenes, and consumers cannot hold them accountable, and some even find it difficult to find these companies.

Therefore, it is necessary for the regulatory authorities to use big data means to accurately locate illegal operating companies, effectively crack down on illegal activities, and protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers.

(Wang Xiaoyue)