Xinhua News Agency, Shanghai, February 22, Question: "Making friends" has changed to "paying money" Beware of the hidden traps of these "off order" apps!
Xinhua News Agency "Xinhua Viewpoint" reporter Lan Tianming
"It costs money to send every message", "I spent more than 100,000 yuan, but I still can't get the contact information" "If you want to meet offline, you must first get a 'forever' worth 10,000 yuan"..."Xinhua Viewpoint" The reporter's investigation found that some apps claiming to be "quick off the order" and "mutual help off the order" through the platform rules "offset", making the process of making friends alienated into "paying money" step by step, many users have become "harvest" objects, causing a large number of Disputes suspected of "inducing consumption" and "emotional fraud".
"I spent more than 100,000 yuan and didn't get rid of the order, and I didn't see it in the end."
The reporter found that a number of "off-the-order" apps with similar operation modes have been downloaded a huge amount on the app store, and some of them have exceeded 100 million downloads.
However, this type of app has received a large number of complaints from netizens on complaint platforms such as Black Cat Complaint, some as many as 1,600, involving "false propaganda", "inducing a large number of recharges", and "emotional fraud".
——Growing eyeballs, vulgar advertisements are rampant.
"Just after chatting on the software a few times, this woman has to come and follow me" "You don't know how active the woman above is"... The reporter found that this type of app was widely promoted on short video platforms. Actors pretend to be users who have successfully made friends and "show up", with vulgar language and exaggerated performances.
A woman from Xinjiang told reporters that she was "forced to make friends" by this type of app.
"I accidentally discovered that my personal video on Douyin had become a promotional advertisement for the 'Love Chat' App. In the advertisement, there was a line of words '30 years old, single, like to travel' on my photo, but the platform did not contact me before, nor did it contact me. Without my permission and authorization."
——If you want to make friends, you need to recharge every step of the way.
"In order to find a partner, I spent more than 100,000 yuan on the platform and repaid an online loan of more than 30,000 yuan, but I didn't see him in person." Mr. Liu, a 50-year-old from a rural area in Jiangxi, downloaded a file called "Lai" because he was widowed. I hope to find a partner, but the results are empty.
"After registration, many female users sent me photos and voices like robots, but it cost money to reply to texts, voices, and videos. It cost me more than 60,000 yuan to send a gift to a female user." Mr. Liu said.
The reporter found in this type of app that male users can spend as much as tens of yuan per minute for video calls, and voice calls can cost as much as several yuan per minute.
Male users can send gifts worth millions of yuan to female users with one click.
- Want to "run now"?
Block contact.
Mr. Jiang from Zhejiang told reporters that he hopes to exchange WeChat IDs and mobile phone numbers with female users on apps such as "Hequ" and "Laiyu", but whether they enter letters or numbers, or inform them by voice, the platform will send relevant content. Block or disconnect calls.
"After sending the contact information, the other party cannot see it, and the platform will also prompt 'Send WeChat, mobile phone and address information is prohibited'. If you send it multiple times, the account may be blocked." Mr. Jiang said.
On the complaint platform, the platform responded to the complainant as follows: "The purpose of payment is to find and screen real active players" "Pay to improve social quality and increase the interactive experience with the other party" "Whether recharge consumption is based on the user's personal wishes, the platform Neither coercion nor interference"...
"You can make money by chatting", is it a friend or a trap?
On the one hand, this kind of platform induces male users to recharge step by step, and on the other hand, it attracts a large number of female users to participate in it through the promotion of "you can make money by chatting".
The reporter found that many platforms attract users to "pull people" by promoting "high cashback" and "monthly income exceeding 10,000".
According to the reward mechanism of the relevant App, if the invited friends make deposits and withdrawals each time, they can get 8% to 12% of their deposit and withdrawal amount as a reward, and said that "there is no cap on the Internet".
With the help of others, the reporter registered a female account on the "Love Chat" App, and the system immediately sent a reminder that "you can get cash when you reply."
After communicating with multiple male users for 10 minutes, the account earned about 10 yuan in points.
However, many female users reported that such apps have problems such as “difficulty in withdrawing cash”, such as “men’s rewards cannot be withdrawn”, “the withdrawal application has not been received after the application has been submitted”, and the account has been banned for non-violation.
"I used to withdraw tens of yuan in 'Love Chat' and it quickly arrived in my account, but recently the platform inexplicably blocked my account for the reason of diverting traffic to third-party software. There are still more than 1,600 yuan in the account, and I have communicated with the platform many times. There is no result." Ms. Liu, who works in Guangzhou, hopes that the platform can unblock the account and continue to make money on the platform.
The reporter asked a number of such apps, but the manual customer service did not provide the reporter with detailed ban standards and ban time. The reply to the reporter was only "involving the internal rules of the platform and cannot be informed." "The ban is subject to the review of the review department. specific standards" etc.
The reporter registered a male user account of the "Laiyu" App, and without chatting with anyone or recharging, he asked the customer service: "The account of the opposite-sex object in the chat has been blocked, can I refund the points used for gift brushing?" The App "human customer service"" "Second return" means: points cannot be returned, "verified by the relevant departments, the other party's account has violated the rules, so it will be banned".
Guo Yutao, a partner of Beijing Gefeng Law Firm, believes that on the one hand, this type of platform encourages male users to recharge and send gifts; on the other hand, taking advantage of the platform, it takes advantage of the platform to withdraw cash for female users, and arbitrarily block accounts to clear profits. Precipitate on the platform to achieve "eat at both ends".
Clearing out the "hormonal trap" on dating platforms
Experts said that at present, a large number of platform registration entities under the banner of "making friends" are technology information companies, and most of their business scopes do not have "marriage introduction services" projects.
Some platforms use this to evade the supervision of civil affairs departments, and there are certain blind spots in supervision.
Guo Yutao believes that if such platforms publish false information, induce others to register, recharge, and consume, and illegally occupy user funds, they are suspected of fraud.
In the view of Yan Huaizhi, an associate professor at the School of Computer Science of Beijing Institute of Technology, since the app store has become an important entry for users to obtain apps, app store operators should further undertake the responsibility for app review and operation supervision.
"Before the app is put on the shelves, the app store should require the app operator to provide various user agreements, and conduct an evaluation of the operation model to ensure compliance; after the app is put on the shelves, it should conveniently accept and handle user complaints, and give feedback to the app operator to urge Its rectification, if necessary, remove the app or even put it on the blacklist. If the operation of the app is suspected of illegal or criminal, the app store should actively cooperate with the national network, public security, industry and information technology and other departments to deal with relevant illegal and criminal acts in accordance with the law and resolutely crack down.” Yan Huaizhi said .
The relevant person in charge of a matchmaking agency management association in the east said that at present, the Internet has increasingly become the main channel for marriage and dating, and it is recommended that the civil affairs department further improve the matchmaking industry standards and regulations, and further regulate the management of online matchmaking.
"Industry organizations can make full use of the platform's 'red and black list' publicity system to guide the compliance operation of online matchmaking platforms. For platforms that infringe users' rights and interests under the banner of making friends with strangers, relevant departments should strengthen supervision and punishment."
Liu Junhai, director of the Institute of Commercial Law of Renmin University of China, said that when users suffer property or personal damage on the dating platform, they should actively preserve relevant evidence and require the infringer to bear the responsibility for compensation.
If the dating platform takes advantage of the platform to maliciously infringe on the legitimate rights and interests of users, and refuses to compensate and refund, users must not swallow it, and should defend their legitimate rights and interests through administrative or judicial channels.