Xinhua News Agency, Tianjin, March 14th: They are eyeing the elderly!
——A survey of some mobile apps "harvesting" the elderly
Xinhua News Agency "Xinhua Viewpoint" reporters Huang Jianglin and Deng Haoran
"This dating app has made our family riot." Ms. Liu, a resident of Wuhan, said that the elderly in the family watched an online advertisement and downloaded a social app for middle-aged and elderly people, but they were tempted to recharge 5,000 to 6,000 yuan.
A reporter from "Xinhua Viewpoint" found that nowadays elderly people generally use smartphones, but many elderly people lack network security knowledge and become the target of some mobile app traffic "harvesting", and even fall into various network routines.
Many seniors are being scammed online
"My father didn't know what advertisement he ordered, and he took out an insurance policy by accident. After that, the bill was automatically deducted every month without notice." Speaking of this, Mr. Cheng from Tianjin was very angry - just 7 In January, his father was inexplicably deducted more than 1,800 yuan by an online insurance platform.
When Mr. Cheng asked his father where he got insurance, the nearly seventy-year-old man had no idea what was going on.
He found out through online search that this online insurance platform has placed a lot of advertisements in travel apps, shopping pop-ups, etc., and used gimmicks such as "receiving red envelopes" and "1 yuan in the first month" to attract many users to click.
The reporter found that on the "Black Cat Complaint" platform, the online insurance platform has made more than 9,000 complaints so far.
Many consumers lamented that now all kinds of small advertisements are flying all over the Internet, and the elderly fall into the trap accidentally, which makes it hard to prevent.
"The old man is over 70 years old. He usually lives frugally, but he was cheated of more than 2,800 yuan every day." Mr. Li from Shanxi complained. After the class, under the instigation of the so-called "professor", I bought a "quality class" worth 2,888 yuan. It turned out that the content of the course was copied from the Internet by the "professor".
According to the 49th "Statistical Report on Internet Development in China" released by the China Internet Network Information Center in February this year, as of December 2021, the number of elderly netizens aged 60 and above in China reached 119 million.
With the rapid growth of elderly netizens, online routines for the elderly are also gradually increasing.
In September 2021, a research report released by the Institute of Social Development Strategy of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences showed that 17.25% of the elderly surveyed had the experience of being deceived on the Internet; among them, more than 40% of the elderly had been deceived because of health care products, and nearly 40% of the elderly are deceived by receiving free red envelopes.
Zhang Baoyi, president of the Tianjin Society of Sociology, believes that the elderly are "young people" in the Internet field and "vulnerable groups" in the Internet field.
Elderly people have their own physical and psychological characteristics. Faced with complex network routines, it is often difficult to distinguish the authenticity from the fake. Once they let down their guard, they are easy to be deceived.
There are many ways to "hunt" the elderly
The reporter's investigation found that some Internet "old players" carefully studied the preferences and anxiety of the elderly, used Internet routines proficiently, and dug a "traffic pit" in front of the elderly netizens.
——Specializing in the pain point of the lack of companionship of the elderly, "chat with you" induces payment and recharge.
At present, many social softwares have shifted their target groups to the elderly, and online dating communities and dating apps for the elderly are emerging one after another.
Can such apps really help seniors find happiness?
The reporter randomly downloaded an app called "Middle-aged and Elderly Life".
It turned out that only by spending a fee ranging from 168 yuan to 368 yuan to open a super VIP can you enjoy the "unlimited chat" function.
The reporter then downloaded 5 dating apps for middle-aged and elderly people. In some apps, netizens took the initiative to strike up a conversation and ask for gifts such as virtual "flowers"; some apps even charged "gold coins" for each message sent.
A single man in his 60s said that he wanted to find his other half online, but after spending tens of thousands of yuan, "the bamboo basket was empty."
"Voice chat is billed by the minute, and people don't care if they don't give gifts."
——Keep a close eye on the blind spots of the elderly "Internet Xiaobai", and the pop-up window information is a complete set of entrances.
The reporter learned that some elderly people often click on the pop-up window with information such as "insufficient memory" and "virus threat", and then the mobile phone is confusedly installed with several mobile phone housekeepers, cleaning masters and other various apps.
Chen Xuhui, director of the Internet Information and User Behavior Research Center of the Business School of Tianjin University of Finance and Economics, said that most elderly users have average mobile phones, and some are old mobile phones used by their children. The elderly are easily deceived by such pop-up windows.
After installation, some software will secretly collect user information, make data portraits, and label them with group labels that are "easy to be misled and induced"; then, various advertisements with inferior content and deceptive routines will be directed to the mobile phones of such elderly people. push up.
——Aim at the weakness of the elderly with poor recognition ability, attract traffic and quickly realize it.
"poisonous!
This kind of food must not be eaten indiscriminately" "Husband cheated, he has not returned home for many years"... These kinds of articles are full of some old people's WeChat Moments.
On the short video platform, middle-aged and elderly users have become the "tap water" for some mother-in-law relationships and health care content.
In the field of live broadcasting, some elderly people are deeply trapped in "emotional live broadcasting" and cannot extricate themselves.
Chen Xuhui said that while "brainwashing" the elderly, these contents were realized through rewards, goods, and knowledge payment.
Previously, at the end of the mediation of a "cancer-stricken" family, the anchor started selling health care products as soon as the topic changed. Many elderly people were infected by the "plot" and could not resist the urge to consume.
A health-care self-media practitioner said frankly: "The content is copied, and it is up to netizens to distinguish it. All I want is fans and clicks, and I earn advertising fees and traffic sharing."
Create a clear cyberspace for the elderly
In order to help the elderly cross the "digital divide" and embrace the Internet, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has organized a one-year special campaign for the aging and barrier-free renovation of Internet applications across the country since January last year.
A batch of apps with large fonts, large icons, simple interface and convenient operation have been launched, which greatly meets the needs of the elderly.
"The efforts and achievements of relevant departments and all walks of life in helping the elderly to bridge the 'digital divide' are obvious to all, but some Internet practitioners try to lead the elderly into another 'traffic pit', which is intolerable in society." Chen Xuhui believes that, "It is necessary to integrate social forces, introduce third-party professional evaluation agencies to conduct regular random inspections and inspections of various software, regularly publish evaluation results, expose offenders, and force companies to abide by the law."
Zhang Baoyi believes that platforms and app stores should take the main responsibility, pay attention to user feedback, and remove problematic apps in time.
Relevant departments should also adhere to zero tolerance for illegal advertisements and pop-up windows, establish a rapid response mechanism, and quickly deal with illegal problems found.
In response to the lack of cybersecurity knowledge among the elderly, Li Chuanwen, executive director of Beijing Okun Law Firm, suggested that television programs and radio broadcasts with a large audience of elderly people could be used to popularize cybersecurity knowledge and typical cases, and remind the elderly not to take up small Inexpensive, enhance awareness of prevention, and promptly complain or call the police once cheated.
Zhang Baoyi said that young people should also give more companionship to the elderly at home. On the one hand, they should give the elderly care and understanding through companionship, which plays a preventive role; More security guards.