Shanghai man loses 1.4 million home purchase
Indulge in the "Fish Ball Prophecy" interactive live broadcast of Douyu
When she urged her son to buy a house again, Ms. Zhang discovered that the 1.4 million yuan purchase price had been "lost on the phone" by her son.
At the end of November 2020, Ms. Zhang, who lives in Shanghai, discovered that her son had been obsessed with the "prophecy" interactive quiz in the Douyu live broadcast room for the past year.
By buying "fish balls" to place bets, in less than a year and a half, Ms. Zhang's 30-year-old son continued to participate in the "prophecy" quiz in several live broadcast rooms, with a maximum single bet of 50,000 yuan, within a day Lost more than 200,000 yuan, and a total of 1.4 million yuan was lost.
Ms. Zhang believes that "this is gambling, and the live broadcast platform should be responsible for this" and asked Douyu to return his son's 1.4 million yuan for "losing gambling".
At present, the local police in Wuhan has filed a case against one of the anchors.
The reporter contacted the relevant person of Douyu Company, but the other party refused to respond.
Player:
I want to make money after I got stuck, and lose more and more
Ms. Zhang’s son, Mr. Zhu, introduced that he came into contact with the "prophecy" gameplay in the Douyu live broadcast room in July 2019.
"In the beginning, I was curious and used virtual currency, that is, "fish balls" to place bets." Mr. Zhu said that "fish balls" can be purchased through the Douyu platform or privately through "middlemen".
The trading price of "fish balls" on the Douyu platform is about one yuan for 1,000 fish balls. "It is cheaper to buy through merchants, and you can buy 1,000 fish balls for 80 cents. The price is floating." Fish balls can be used to participate in the "prophecy" Guess, after earning fish balls, you can "exchange money" through third-party transactions.
Mr. Zhu said that the first time he bought fish balls through Douyu platform, he "bought several hundred yuan."
The earliest prediction quizzes that participated in the predictions include popular games and mahjong games. Before the game starts, the anchor will set the prediction content and invite visitors to participate in the prediction quiz.
"In the game, the anchor will eventually win or lose, and whether it is mvp (the best player) can be used to guess."
"It's actually a gambling. If I win today, I can sell fish balls to merchants for cash. If I lose, they are gone." In Mr. Zhu's view, "fish balls" are similar to "bargaining chips" in a casino, and the anchor uses various The game "opens". Participants can bet according to different odds. "There are hundreds of anchors playing this interactive prediction every day. Everyone can go in and place bets."
After playing some live broadcast predictions of competitive games, Mr. Zhu soon only participated in the live prediction interaction of mahjong games.
"Because the settlement is fast, you can get the result in just four minutes." There is no upper limit for betting a few yuan of fish balls (1 yuan is about 1,000 fish balls) in each round.
"Mr. Zhu said, his longest time playing for nearly a day, "If you don't sleep for more than ten hours, just bet this.
Lost more than 100,000 yuan a day.
"
As many as dozens of pages of WeChat, Alipay and bank transfer records printed by Mr. Zhu show that between July 2019 and November 2020, he spent more than 1.4 million yuan for the purchase of fish balls.
According to Mr. Zhu, in the Douyu live broadcast room, at most there will be tens of thousands of people betting at the same time. “After losing, because you are eager to turn your money, the more you bet, the deeper you get.”
Betta:
All platform online functions have been approved
After Ms. Zhang's son graduated from technical secondary school in 2008, he worked as a photographer in a photo studio. In 2013, he accidentally broke his wrist and has not been cured.
In 2019, considering that her son will need a house to get married in the future, Ms. Zhang sold the small house she bought before, borrowed more than 500,000 yuan from relatives and friends, and collected 1.4 million yuan to give to her son, "Let him watch in the outer suburbs of Shanghai Buy a larger house for later marriage use."
Because his wrist has not recovered, Mr. Zhu quit his job and rested at home.
Ms. Zhang, who works the night shift at the supermarket, has never noticed the abnormality of her son.
Ms. Zhang said that her son used to be very obedient and would not spend money arbitrarily. He feels relieved to give the money to his son. "He always said that the house should be found slowly, and there is a suitable opportunity to invest in a small restaurant. I have always been Did not urge him to see the house." Unexpectedly, a year later, the son told her, "All the money was lost in the mobile phone gamble."
Ms. Zhang said that on November 22, 2020, after learning that her son had lost 1.4 million online, she took a train with her son the next day to find the headquarters of Douyu Company and asked the other party to return the "money lost by the son", but The two sides have repeatedly negotiated to no avail.
The notice of the case initiation issued to Mr. Zhu by the Public Security Bureau of Wuhan East Lake New Technology Development Zone on December 3, 2020 shows that the police have filed a case concerning one of the anchors, Zhang Moumou, for the “casino opening case”.
Ms. Zhang provided a recording file of the live conversation with Douyu staff.
In the dialogue, in response to Ms. Zhang’s suggestion, “Why is Douyu as a large live broadcast platform involved in gambling live broadcasts, and whether the Douyu company is responsible for supervision?”, a staff member of the company replied: All functions of the Douyu platform are online , Have been approved by relevant departments.
expert:
The platform has the most basic regulatory obligations
In fact, on September 12, 2020, Ziguang Pavilion and the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League publicly named Betta anchor "彡彡九彡" for gambling.
According to reports, the head of Douyu anchor "彡彡九Outdoor" (real name Fu Hailong) was taken by the police in November 2020.
The reporter noticed that under the content of "Interactive Prophecy Gameplay Introduction" on the Douyu platform, there is a "Solemn Statement", which is displayed in a bold blue background and a white column. The statement says: Users are requested to obtain fish balls through official channels. Severely crack down on all buying and selling fish balls through offline transactions, and you will be responsible for any loss.
Douyu also responded that the user's personal account recharge or activity-receiving fish balls can only be given or consumed, and cannot be withdrawn.
Cui Xiangqian, a researcher at the Central Plains Public Security Research Center, said that online gambling is highly concealed and difficult to supervise. It also has some characteristics. For example, it is relatively deceptive, and it is often difficult for ordinary consumers to distinguish between games and gambling. It is easy to fall into it.
However, the law clearly stipulates that the use of gambling as a business or providing conditions for gambling or opening a casino is all gambling.
Cui Xiangqian believes that the Douyu platform provides a live broadcast room, but it is not necessarily aware of the specific organization of bettors, but the Douyu platform has the most basic supervision obligations for various game projects opened, and must bear certain supervision. Responsibility; if Douyu platform knows that Internet gambling and illegal criminal acts are conducted in the room, it constitutes an accomplice.
Chengdu Commercial Daily-Red Star News Reporter
Wang Zhenhua Lan Jing