Live streaming with frequent fakes
Fight fake people and switch to short video platform
Nowadays, the popularity of live video delivery has made it a hardest hit area for fake sales.
In November last year, the news that “Simba’s team’s live broadcast of bird’s nest is actually sugar water” made a sensation, and the test report turned out to be Wang Hai, who has been out of people’s sight for many years.
Faced with ironclad evidence, Simba issued an open letter, expressing his willingness to refund one compensation, and the total compensation amount exceeded 60 million yuan.
From physical stores to online shopping to live video delivery, counterfeiters and counterfeiters "fight" all the way, and a group of professional counterfeiters have also followed this field.
Current situation: live broadcasts bring goods for sale in the hardest-hit areas
From June 29 to July 3, Ms. Cheng bought more than 130 pieces of gold jewelry called "999 miles away pure gold" in the live broadcast room of a store on the Douyin platform.
During the live broadcast, the anchor mentioned many times that there was a short video platform as a guarantee, which gave Ms. Cheng a reassurance.
But after receiving the first batch of goods, Ms. Cheng found that the gold jewelry was not quite right. After the appraisal, she learned that the gold content of these jewelry turned out to be zero.
The counterfeit sellers are so bold and reckless that people see the tip of the iceberg where live streaming platforms are flooded with fakes.
Looking at Wang Hai’s Weibo, there are often disclosures about the online celebrity’s live-streaming sales of counterfeit products: the online celebrity Guangge with millions of fans sells fake cosmetics, and was deceived by consumers to demand a refund of 10; skirts on Taobao’s live broadcast The turquoise pendant sold by my sister was re-examined as shoddy and purely fraudulent to consumers; Internet celebrity couples were exposed to selling fake mobile phones in the live broadcast room. The platform was willing to refund consumers in full, but the deceived consumers asked for a refund. Lose three...
The survey shows that China's live broadcast e-commerce market will reach 961 billion yuan in 2020, a significant year-on-year increase of 121.5%.
It is estimated that the overall scale of live e-commerce in 2021 will be close to 1202 billion yuan.
The business opportunities and profits contained in the trillion market have attracted short video platforms to enter e-commerce one after another. Head platforms such as Douyin and Kuaishou have successively opened built-in malls to compete with traditional e-commerce giants such as Taobao and JD.com.
Live delivery of goods is in the air, and the irregularities in the market have also made it a hardest hit area for fake sales.
On March 15 this year, the black cat complaint data showed that there were more than 12,000 complaints related to live streaming in 2020 alone, including nearly 4,000 complaints involving e-commerce platforms, and more than 8,000 complaints involving short video and live streaming platforms. one.
Wang Hai and his team have done data analysis on the counterfeit leads in their hands, and the results show that online shopping fraud, sales of counterfeit, and false propaganda account for more than 85% of the total number of counterfeit leads. Among them, live broadcast of counterfeit products and fraud account for the total. More than 60%.
Difficulty: Counterfeiters have become the object of prevention
In Wang Hai's view, from a technical point of view, there is no difficulty in cracking down on counterfeiting in the field of live streaming.
Because by recording the screen, it is easier to counterfeit and collect evidence.
In addition, the e-commerce platform will keep three-year consumption records, which provides great convenience for consumers to protect their rights and obtain evidence.
However, the qualitative identity of the anchors carrying the goods is not clear, coupled with the lack of responsibility of the short video platform, making the road to counterfeiting still difficult.
Anti-counterfeit Aaron is dealing with two cases of selling fake goods on live broadcast, one of which is selling fake brand-name bags in the live broadcast room.
However, in operation, Aaron encountered a lot of trouble, because he had repeatedly used the live broadcast platform to buy fake goods and collect evidence, his mobile phone number was automatically recognized by the platform as a professional counterfeit, and the counterfeit merchant directly refused to sell him.
Aaron can only change accounts constantly, or ask other staff of the team to come forward and buy.
The counterfeit sellers are actually protected by the platform, and the counterfeiters have become the target of the platform's prevention. This phenomenon makes him very angry.
Aaron’s experience is not uncommon among many consumers.
After being scammed for buying gold, Ms. Cheng only contacted the official of the short video platform and did not directly contact the merchant.
On July 6, she took the fake gold she received to the local public security organ to report the case. The public security organ accepted the case after appraisal.
But soon, the seller of gold quickly learned that Ms. Cheng had reported the case and stopped the second order that was about to be delivered.
Since then, the merchants kept sending text messages to urge Ms. Cheng to apply for a refund on the grounds that "the product is out of stock".
At the same time, Ms. Cheng discovered that some of her information on the short video platform had been deleted, causing her to be unable to inquire about the sales records of the merchants.
Then, the Sanya Consumers Association asked the live broadcast platform to provide business information to Ms. Cheng, but the live broadcast platform refused this request.
Controversy: whether to make money in anti-counterfeiting
Since the anti-counterfeiting storm started in Beijing in 1995, the debate about whether professional anti-counterfeiting is ethical has never stopped.
Proponents believe that although professional anti-counterfeiting is for profit, it can supervise the sales of counterfeit and dishonest behavior of a few merchants. It is a clever use of legal weapons and has no moral flaws.
Opponents believe that professional anti-counterfeiting has nothing to do with justice. The fundamental motive of seeking "gray income" determines that such activities are not normal rights protection activities, which will not only not purify the social environment, but will make counterfeit producers and sellers. It is more concealed, and even breeds the gray trade between the counterfeiters and the counterfeiters, which increases the difficulty of law enforcement and environmental purification.
As early as January 9, 2014, the judicial interpretation issued by the Supreme People’s Court made it clear: due to disputes over the quality of food and drugs, buyers claim rights to producers and sellers, and producers and sellers are buyers. People's courts shall not support those who know that there are quality problems in foods and drugs but still defend them on the grounds of purchasing them.
This explanation once allowed many professional counterfeiters to get rich "returns" for "knowing fakes and buying fakes".
However, the good times did not last long because the quality of the staff was uneven. Under the manipulation of some profit-seeking people, professional anti-counterfeiting began to change its flavor. Some even used deceptive methods such as "replacement of goods" to blackmail merchants and became "counterfeiting".
In May 2017, the Supreme People’s Court clearly stated: “There have been many new developments and changes in professional anti-counterfeiting groups and the litigation that they have caused, and their negative impacts have become increasingly prominent. Based on the following considerations, we believe that it is not appropriate to apply special policies to food and drug disputes. Promote and apply to all areas of consumer protection." The Supreme People's Court also stated that it is necessary to gradually restrict the profit-making behavior of professional counterfeiters.
Since then, it is not uncommon for professional counterfeiters to be convicted of losing prosecutions, and some may even face criminal risks and be sentenced to jail.
In Wang Hai's view, the law is a weapon, a weapon that can restrain evil.
The price of money for the merchants who manufacture and sell counterfeit products is only a means for counterfeiters to achieve social governance and curb fraud through the law, and counterfeiting is the ultimate goal.
Wang Hai believes that the introduction of the punitive damages system is due to the large number of illegal businesses and limited administrative supervision resources; if we want to curb and crack down on the production and sale of fakes, it is far from enough to rely on government functional departments, and we need Rely on social co-governance.
Wang Hai does not shy away from the issue of professional anti-counterfeiting charges, because his team also needs to survive. They not only help consumers defend their rights and fight counterfeiting, they will also help companies fight counterfeiting.
However, for consumer entrustment, Wang Hai and his team mostly adopt the method of risk agency, charging only after receiving compensation, and it will be nothing if not.
While fighting counterfeiting to make money, Wang Hai and his team also focus on some non-profit projects. In addition to helping consumers defend their rights, they will also hold lectures to popularize consumer rights protection knowledge.
Viewpoint: Reasonable anti-counterfeiting is worthy of encouragement
In recent years, "professional anti-counterfeiting" has developed extremely fast, and it has also been controversial in society.
In this regard, lawyer Zhu Lin of Sichuan Junhe Law Firm believes that the purpose of punitive damages stipulated in the Consumer Rights Protection Law and the Food Safety Law is to force businesses to improve the quality of products and services, precisely because the product quality The problem gave birth to professional counterfeiters.
We cannot deny their positive significance just because they are profitable from fighting fakes.
"After all, what we want to solve is the problem of inferior products of unscrupulous merchants, rather than trying to shape the existence of perfect victims. As long as the premise of profit is not illegal and criminal, for this subjectively to seek benefits, but objectively purify the market and maintain consumption I think the mechanism of the rights and interests of the people is worthy of encouragement."
Attorney Zhu Lin pointed out that no matter what kind of negative news appeared in professional anti-counterfeiting, or even criminal acts of extortion, it is the behavior of an individual. It is impossible to deny the benign mechanism of professional anti-counterfeiting because of choking.
Of course, in recent years, there have been many cases of counterfeiting that have been judged as extortion by the courts. It can be regarded as a wake-up call for professional counterfeiters. They should first be realistic and not make false statements or forge evidence. Never turn the identity of the counterfeiter into a counterfeiter, otherwise it will not only be suspected of extortion but also involve fraud. Secondly, counterfeiters should claim their rights in accordance with the law, and complaints and reports, lawsuits, and media compliance exposure are all within the legal limits. Once the legal limit is exceeded, the nature changes. Finally, the amount of the claim must be reasonable. If the counterfeiter exceeds the reasonable amount, it is definitely a risk point in actual judicial practice.
“Nowadays, live streaming products are prosperous, and short video platforms are constantly counterfeiting. As a bystander, I hope that counterfeiters should also actively consider the effects of social welfare, plan public welfare activities, and strive to build up in this age of developed networks. The image of folk 315', so the image of counterfeiters in the public will be completely different." Zhu Lin said.
Our reporter Li Huanyu Zhang Xue