Our reporter's in-depth investigation of bargaining group "help people bargain"
Special reminder: Some criminals take the opportunity to steal other people’s information. Many netizens click on links to phishing websites, which will cause personal information leakage.
"Zero yuan is free", I believe many netizens have received such links in WeChat or QQ.
Invite friends and family to bargain, and you can get the chopped goods for free if you reach a certain amount.
It is precisely because it doesn't cost a penny that you can get it by just moving your fingers to forward it, and many people have joined.
But do you know?
In the process of bargaining for others, or in the process of bargaining for you, the personal information of you and your friends and family may have been sold by criminals.
The more people who bargain, the more profits businesses can make from selling personal information, and these profits far exceed the actual value of the goods.
On November 20, Shanxi Evening News reporters joined a number of WeChat and QQ groups that helped bargaining prices, and also interviewed the relevant staff of the network supervision department of Taiyuan Public Security Bureau to understand the situation.
In short, you need to be cautious about bargaining. Not only may you get low-quality goods, but your personal information may also have been sold.
It is not easy to get goods for free. At least a few hundred people are required to participate in bargaining.
On November 20th, Shanxi Evening News reporters were dragged into a group called "Bargaining Family" by a friend. There were nearly 300 people in this group. Everyone had the experience of bargaining and helping others to bargain. Many groups Friends in this group have all received products for free, and some group friends have even received it more than once.
A netizen told the Shanxi Evening News reporter that the bargaining amount of goods is not high every time, and the remaining amount is less than tens of yuan, but it is not easy to get it for free. At least hundreds or even thousands of people are needed to help bargain. Only have a chance to get.
Because the amount cut each time is very small, some cents, and some even cents.
Another netizen said that he had obtained an electric car through bargaining.
The price of this electric car was 1,550 yuan, and he sent the bargaining link to all his friends on WeChat.
"My WeChat friends probably have less than 300 people, and I have joined several bargaining groups with more than 100 people. It is not clear how many people bargain for me. In short, I rely on perseverance to disturb others. This electric car finally I won it for free. But after I got the electric car, I checked the brand of electric car and found that the real price of this electric car was less than 1,000 yuan." The netizen said helplessly.
During the interview, some people who often help others to bargain feel very bored and helpless.
Citizen Ms. Zhang said, "I often receive messages from others to help me with bargaining. Many of them are sent by good friends. For the sake of face, I am embarrassed not to help, but I feel very annoying when the frequency increases. Many people send links regardless of time and occasion. Sometimes I may be at work and have no time to open, they will continue to send messages urging, saying that if you don’t bargain, it will time out. Sometimes the link is sent late at night , I was already asleep, and I would see complaints from my friends the next day, because I didn’t bargain for him in time and didn’t get the goods for free. It seemed that it was my fault that I couldn’t help. Later, I received this link again , Chose to ignore it, and once stated in Moments that he would not participate in bargaining sent by anyone."
There are a variety of bargaining platforms that are likely to receive links from scammers
After two days of observation in the bargaining group, a reporter from Shanxi Evening News found that the bargaining links sent by group friends came from various commercial platforms. It can be said that as long as there is such a link, they will share it in the group.
A netizen who has been in the group for many years told the Shanxi Evening News reporter that they had almost been scammed because of their mixed links.
"The link sent that time showed that the product was a new mobile phone of a certain brand. Because of the high value of the product, many people participated in the bargaining. During the bargaining process, it was discovered that the bargaining was not It’s as hard as ever. Everyone can cut hundreds of dollars with a single knife. A mobile phone worth tens of thousands of dollars can be obtained for free with only a dozen people. After it is cut, there will be a self-proclaimed Apple after-sales service. Someone added a friend and said that the mobile phone is given away for free, but the postage needs to be paid by oneself. To get the mobile phone, you need to pay 30 yuan for shipping. I was already alert and didn’t pay him, but many people in the group paid for it. For a sum of money, I finally found that not only did he not get the phone, he was also defrauded of 30 yuan." The group friend said.
Some friends also reported that the quality of the free goods is poor.
Ms. Kang in the group told the Shanxi Evening News reporter that she had a bargain and got a rice cooker for free. She was very happy, but after only using it twice, the plug started to sparkle. In order to prevent accidents, she had to switch the rice cooker. Throw it away.
There is also a netizen named Xiaoyu who has a similar experience. She said that she finally cut a 400 yuan sweeper to 0 yuan, but the system prompts that she needs to register to download another app. After the registration and download is complete, she prompts again. This product is very popular and sold out.
Xiaoyu told the Shanxi Evening News reporter depressed that he forwarded this bargaining link to hundreds of people. In order to thank his friends for their help, he also privately sent several thank-you red envelopes to his friends. In the end, the goods were not received, and he lost. A red envelope of nearly 100 yuan.
Criminals take the opportunity to steal other people's information, don't easily open links that don't know the source
So, besides attracting more users, what are the benefits of these commercial platforms launching this marketing method of bargaining for free products?
Those high-priced goods are taken away for free, so how do businesses profit?
With these questions, a reporter from Shanxi Evening News dialed the customer service number of a certain merchant, and the relevant staff told the reporter that all their bargaining activities for free here were true and effective.
The amount of bargaining for each person is related to whether he has used WeChat for long enough, whether he is bound to real bank card information, and whether there is any abnormality in the bound bank card. If the conditions are met, the amount of money cut will be higher If the conditions are not met, the amount cut is very small, the minimum is only 0.01 yuan.
When a reporter from Shanxi Evening News asked why the price of the goods sold did not match the actual price, the staff member said that he did not know about it.
Later, a reporter from Shanxi Evening News contacted Mr. Li Jinming, who is engaged in the research and development of mobile phone security software.
Li Jinming told the Shanxi Evening News reporter that WeChat bargaining activities were initially only used for marketing.
Many businesses can get a lot of attention in a short time through such activities, which is indeed a good marketing tool.
However, due to the low cost of this method, some criminals took the opportunity to steal other people’s information, causing many netizens to click on the links to be phishing websites. These pages are very similar to the official websites of merchants. Consumers will participate in activities if they misbelieve them. Then enter your name, mobile phone number, etc., causing personal information to leak.
The relevant staff of the network supervision department of the Xinghualing Branch of the Taiyuan Public Security Bureau told the Shanxi Evening News reporter that there are some illegal vendors who sell the personal information and bank card numbers of those involved in bargaining to hackers at high prices. The profit may be in the millions.
For individuals, the damage caused is also immeasurable.
The staff also introduced that at present, similar scams include WeChat red envelope opening, voting for children, forwarding free products, and so on.
The majority of netizens must be careful, do not open links of unknown origin and do not forward false links at will. Once you encounter a scam, you must contact the public security department in time.
Shanxi Evening News reporter Yao Jia