News from our newspaper (reporter Yang Zhaokui) "I almost got into the pit." A few days ago, Ms. Li, a consumer in Chaoyang District, Beijing, told the reporter that on January 2, she received a text message that her points were about to expire, telling her that she needed to save money as soon as possible. Open the link to redeem the product, otherwise the points will be cleared on January 3.
She thought it was the points of her mobile phone number, thinking that she had redeemed the credits before, so she opened the link to have a look.
But after selecting the product, filling in the address, and before paying the price difference, Ms. Li felt that it was necessary to check the original price of the product with 10086 customer service. After verification, she realized that the event was not an official event.
"This scam is too confusing, because the text message I sent included my mobile phone number, and it is normal to clear it at the end of the year, so I naturally thought it was an official event." Ms. Li said, "After opening the link, I found out that there are well-known products such as DJI drones, Huawei mobile phones, and Konka electric hot pots, so I was tempted and chose electric hot pots."
However, when she was about to pay the price difference, Ms. Li thought to herself: An ordinary 5L electric hot pot only costs two to three hundred yuan. Why do you have to pay 299 yuan after deducting 1,000 yuan for 1,000 points?
So, she checked this electric hot pot online and found that the price is 999 yuan, but there are no reviews for this product yet.
"I always look at the reviews when I buy products. I usually don't buy those with few reviews. I don't want to buy this one if I don't have a single review. But I'm still tempted to think about it being 700 yuan cheaper." Ms. Li said, "In order to make sure Whether the original price of this product is really 999 yuan, I called 10086 to verify, but I didn’t expect to be wrong and escaped the scam.”
The reporter noticed that Ms. Li's encounter was not an isolated case.
Recently, the China Consumers Association (hereinafter referred to as the China Consumers Association) has successively received feedback from consumers that operators are suspected of misleading consumption by using expiring points to urge the exchange of corresponding goods or services.
The relevant person in charge of the China Consumers Association pointed out that as the end of the year approaches, some operators take advantage of the psychology of consumers who can't bear to waste consumption points and look forward to brand discounts, etc., to carry out SMS marketing and promotion, inviting members to participate in point exchange for products, checking in or inviting friends to participate. to interact.
There are also some unscrupulous operators who pretend to be brand customer service, imitate the service numbers of the three major operators and send text messages to consumers, etc., to defraud new user registration information, invite consumers to actively click on links to redeem so-called welfare products, and even carry out related telecom fraud activities.
This exchange form of "point deduction + price difference" can easily mislead consumers.
However, the China Consumers Association has confirmed that some products in some points exchange malls are counterfeit products, and some brand products are products with a backlog of inventory for many years.
In this regard, the China Consumers Association reminds consumers not to believe in the so-called welfare gimmick of redeeming points to "make up the difference".
If there is a point exchange activity that requires the purchase of goods or services by making up the price difference or combining cash, etc., you must consume carefully, and pay attention to comparing product information and actual value, so as to avoid "losing points and losing money".
China Consumers Coordination suggested that telecom service operators should monitor and verify the text message content and number segments of such points exchange malls, dynamically block them, and deal with abnormal information and activities involving fraud.