Can you find love in a blind box for 1 yuan?
Reporter investigates the chaos in the blind box market
● Single blind boxes are gradually emerging all over the country. In addition to offline “offline stalls” and “offline convenience stores”, a variety of small programs and apps have also appeared online, which are quite popular among young people.
However, whether it is offline or online, the success rate of removing orders through blind boxes is not high, and even many people are stuck in the first step-the authenticity of information
● There have been many different versions of blind box mini programs, and agents have been widely recruited through social platforms. "Make money quickly" and "promotion means commission" have become their advertising slogans.
This "pull head" profitability model is very similar to MLM, and it is also similar to micro-business distribution.
● Whether it is a "off-order convenience store" or online off-order mini programs, apps, etc., they actually have the nature of a platform for processing personal information.
The Personal Information Protection Law clearly stipulates that personal information processors shall be responsible for their personal information processing activities and take necessary measures to ensure the safety of the personal information processed, otherwise they will bear corresponding legal responsibilities
□ Trainee reporter Zhang Shoukun
□ Our reporter Zhao Li
Only need to pay 1 yuan, you can extract a contact information, or save your own contact information in the "library" and wait for the "destined person" to extract it-this is the "playing method" that has recently become popular for getting rid of the single blind box.
Since mid-to-late July this year, after a Changsha university student opened the "Yue Lao Office" stall, single blind boxes have gradually emerged all over the country.
In addition to setting up stalls, some cities have also appeared in "single blind box convenience stores" selling blind boxes, and more common are online blind box mini programs, official accounts, apps, online stores, etc., and form an industrial chain , Solicit agents on social platforms.
Is such a single blind box reliable?
A recent investigation by a reporter from the "Rules of Law Daily" found that there are many "dark pits" in the blind box. Either the contact information in the blind box is fake and "no such person is found"; or the other party harassed or even fell into pornography or pornography after establishing the contact. Scam trap.
And as the blind boxes of single-off orders have become more and more popular, some businesses have sniffed business opportunities and used young people's friendship needs to attract cash, and there is a risk of leaking and selling personal information.
Single blind boxes are all the rage
Real information is difficult to guarantee
The single blind box first appeared in the form of stalls, mostly in shopping malls, night markets, schools and other places with a lot of people, and the equipment and the game method are very simple: 1 table, two stickers with the words "male" and "female" respectively. If you spend 1 yuan in a box, you can take away the contact information of an individual or put your own contact information.
In Tianjin, a vendor told reporters that at most, more than 300 people came to access information in one night.
Subsequently, "order-off convenience stores" selling off-order blind boxes appeared one after another in Beijing, Tianjin, Guangzhou, Chongqing, Jinan and other places. The prices of blind boxes ranged from a few yuan to tens of yuan. The constellations are sorted and arranged.
Recently, the reporter saw in a "single-off convenience store" in Heping District, Tianjin, that the blind boxes of the one-off blind boxes were made into bottles and placed in a cubicle with a "single-off wall".
Labels such as birthday, city of life, and ideal information are affixed to the outside of the bottle. White represents boys and pink represents girls. They are arranged according to constellations and keywords.
According to the staff, you need to pay 49.9 yuan before entering the store, including the entrance fee and the cost of a bottle. After entering the store, you can put your own information in the bottle and take away a bottle with other people’s information from the wall, which can be opened to see but Can not be taken away.
The reporter's statistics found that there are nearly 400 single bottles stored in each compartment, and the total number of bottles in all compartments is as many as thousands. Most of them are "post-90s" and "post-00s", and the shelves are mostly in mid-November. Early.
"Post-00" female college student Wei Wei (pseudonym) is selecting blind boxes in the store. Her selection criterion is constellation matching.
After picking it back and forth for 10 minutes, she took a fancy to a bottle. After opening it, the other party's name, age, contact information, occupation, mate selection criteria and other information were densely written on a piece of paper.
Wei Wei told reporters that she felt that the other party was more attentive, and she planned to add friends to chat first.
In addition to offline "off-order stalls" and "off-order convenience stores", a wide variety of off-line mini programs, official accounts, apps, and online stores have also appeared online, which are quite popular among young people.
However, the reporter found in the investigation that whether it is offline or online, the success rate of ordering through blind boxes is not high, and even many people are stuck in the first step-the authenticity of the information.
According to a blind box dating vendor, the information stored by some people may belong to others, or it may be information that does not match their actual situation. This happens from time to time and it is difficult to verify.
Li Lin (pseudonym) from Suzhou, Anhui Province recently picked up a blind box for men through the drop-off mini program, and the other party noted in the message box that she was a "sunshine and handsome 25-year-old boy."
As a result, Li Lin contacted the other party and found that he was a middle-aged man in his 40s with frivolous language. She was so frightened that she quickly deleted the other party's contact information.
"Doesn't the small program backend review these blind box information?" Li Lin was a little puzzled.
The reporter tried 7 out-of-order blind box applets and 5 out-of-order blind box apps and found that only one platform’s customer service would remind users when they saved a note: it’s forbidden to publish information involving pornography, violence, and so on. Manual review, violators enter the "blacklist" directly, and users who get this type of information can refund the fee with screenshots.
None of the other 11 platforms issued relevant reminders.
Smelling business opportunities to monetize
Layers of profit are similar to MLM
The "encounter love" that single men and women want has become the "outreach business" in the eyes of merchants, and monetization is one of their ways to make money.
Some small programs allow users to brush traffic under the guise of off-single orders.
A small program called "Yue Lao Office" claims that users can deposit or take a note containing the contact information of others for free after viewing an advertisement.
After trying many times, the reporter found that the contact information obtained each time after searching showed that the user did not exist, and even after opening the mini program and watching the advertisement, he needed to watch the advertisement again in order to access the information.
Some businesses make profit layer by layer through the "pull head" model.
The reporter noticed that there have been many different versions of the blind box mini programs, and they have recruited agents extensively through social platforms. "Make money quickly" and "promote the commission" have become their advertising slogans.
According to a promoter of a single blind box mini program, the price of opening a "matchmaker" is generally 9.9 yuan to 39.9 yuan. After joining, you can use your own QR code to set up a stall to make money.
In order to understand the specific operation method, the reporter spent 19.9 yuan to open the "matchmaker" of the above-mentioned small program, and contacted customer service to join the agency group.
After joining the group, the first announcement the reporter received was: “As of XX day XX, those who are still 0 agents will be disqualified and cleared out of the group. What we need are people who make money together, not those who feel that they are hanging out. A good-looking person with a'matchmaker'."
Later, a staff member introduced in the group how to promote and obtain benefits.
"If the user scans your promotion QR code, you can get half of the payment for an order; if someone else uses your QR code to open the "Matchmaker", you can get half of the activation fee, and you can get 20 for the consumption of his customers. %. To put it simply, the fee for opening a matchmaker is 19.9 yuan, and if someone spends 1 yuan to draw a blind box, you can earn 0.5 yuan; if you promote others to become a matchmaker, you can earn 9.95 yuan, and this person’s customer You can earn 0.2 yuan each time you deposit and withdraw the note." The staff said that if you want to have a high income, you must continue to promote it. Someone can develop dozens of "matchmakers" off the assembly line a day, earning more than 200 yuan a day; There were also people who had not developed a downline by the deadline and were finally kicked out of the group.
After the reporter opened the "matchmaker", one person opened the "matchmaker" through the reporter's QR code within one day, and more than 20 users accessed the blind box.
Seeing the reporter’s “promotion ability is not bad,” the staff said that the follow-up development of small programs, official accounts, websites, etc., can allow reporters to continue to make money with people in the group.
For merchants, there is also a more "advanced" way to make money, that is, to establish a blind box platform, such as software development, app development, website building, and store joining.
The reporter learned that the service cost required to open an offline boutique is generally 50,000 to 70,000 yuan, and the price of expanding a store may be as high as 100,000 yuan.
Some businesses also expand the blind box business, provide personalized blind date activities, and charge high service fees.
In the view of Ren Chao, a professor at East China University of Political Science and Law, the profit-making model of "pull heads" in the blind box is like MLM, and it is also similar to the distribution of micro-business.
"In reality, many people use the contact information in the blind box, and most of the people they contact are micro-businesses. The blind box is a distribution product, and its nature is only a thin line from the MLM. If you are not careful, you will easily embark on the road of illegality and crime. ."
Security risks cannot be ignored
It is urgent to strengthen the audit
The emergence of single blind box has increased the probability of single men and women knowing each other, but is there a security risk behind it?
The reporter found through Tianyan Check that the business scope of some "off-single convenience stores" does not include the development of friend-making services, the organization of friend-making activities, etc., and the problem of out-of-scope operations is more common.
The same is true for some small programs and App certification companies. The business scope of their filing includes software development, Internet data services, Internet information services, first- and second-class value-added telecommunications services, etc., but does not include blind box-related services.
On an app called "Blind Box Making Friends", the reporter found that although the name of the software has "Blind Box", after logging in, the system will directly push other people's information according to the location.
The reporter received more than 10 pieces of information within two days of downloading, most of which involved borrowing, pornographic services and other illegal content.
Many people directly post seductive pictures or contact information on the App, and use code words such as "one time eight chapters, two time fifteen chapters" and other erotic services.
According to Yang Junnan, a policeman from the Taogou Police Station, Yongqiao Branch of the Public Security Bureau of Suzhou City, Anhui Province, based on previous case-handling experience, this type of gameplay generally requires participants to provide personal photos, profiles, and contact information. There may be a risk of leaking personal information, and it is very It is difficult to guarantee that businesses will not misappropriate this type of information for other purposes.
These small programs are also difficult to ensure the security of data storage at the technical level, and there is a risk of information and data being stolen.
At the same time, consumers are also easy to be used by others to fall into the trap of "killing pigs" and telecom fraud.
The interviewed experts pointed out that whether it is “order-off convenience stores” or online small programs, official accounts, apps, and online shops, they actually have the nature of a platform for processing personal information.
Although the collection of personal information after obtaining personal consent is basically followed, personal information processing includes not only collection, but also storage, use, processing, transmission, provision, disclosure, deletion, etc.
In particular, the Personal Information Protection Law that came into effect on November 1 this year clearly stipulates that personal information processors shall be responsible for their personal information processing activities and take necessary measures to ensure the security of the personal information processed, otherwise they will be liable for corresponding legal liability.
They believe that both the personal information provider and the provided party who are out of the single blind box should have the necessary review to prevent derivative network fraud, infringement of personal information and other illegal and criminal acts.
Wang Yanhui, a lawyer at Shanghai Hengyanda Law Firm, proposed that it is necessary to be wary of businesses that continue to operate under a new name. When reviewing, the platform should not only review the name of the store, but also strengthen the review of its substantive content.
Merchants who operate blind boxes must abide by the rules of the platform, do not evade audits by opportunistic ways to avoid risks, and after collecting personal information, merchants should strictly abide by the principle of confidentiality. Except for providing them in accordance with the rules, they must not provide the collection to anyone else. Personal information.
"From the current point of view, the single blind box is an emerging thing. In the face of many potential risks it brings, relevant functional departments may leak and sell a large amount of personal private information and data. Restricted at the level of rules.” Ren Chao said that businesses that operate blind boxes must explore a legal and compliant development path, so as not to let the blind boxes become a short-lived “plaything”.
For young people who need to make friends, Yang Junnan reminds them to consume rationally and not blindly follow the trend. In the process of making friends, you must not show your personal information at will to prevent harassment and fraud.
"Trade unions, Communist Youth League, Women's Federation, communities and other organizations at all levels can also add some multi-form, high-interest, and strong interactive offline activities to meet the current social needs of young people. There are more reliable and assured channels, and this will naturally be reduced. Uncertainty risks brought by similar'blind box' social interaction." Ren Chao said.
Comics/Li Xiaojun