"Most fraudulent accounts are 100,000+ fans, Crown members, and claim to be professionally certified"
After payment, funds were frozen, many overseas students encountered online shopping international ticket scam
West China Metropolis Daily-Cover News Reporter Liu Qiufeng
33,200 yuan, 65,000 yuan, 46,800 yuan, 9800 yuan...
A group of Chinese overseas students wrote down their defrauded amount in the newly formed “Social Platform Fraud Complaint Communication” WeChat group.
There are 87 people in this group, most of them are Chinese students who are staying overseas. One of them, Yang Xiaobai, an international student in Japan, said that there are hundreds of people known to have been cheated, and the amount of fraud is at least several million yuan.
Due to the severe situation of the new overseas pneumonia epidemic, the Civil Aviation Administration issued the "Notice on Continued Reduction of International Passenger Traffic During the Epidemic Prevention and Control Period" on March 26. Since March 29, one airline has retained in one country 1 route, 1 flight at most per week. Take strict prevention and control measures on flights to/from China to ensure that the occupancy rate is not higher than 75%.
Under the "Five Ones" policy, many international students can't buy air tickets for returning home. Those who want to return home can only think of ways through "ticketing", and some criminals have found "business opportunities" from them.
Recently, three Chinese students in the United States, Japan and Malaysia told the West China Metropolis Daily and cover news reporters about their deceived experiences. Without exception, the operators of this "return ticket" scam are all members of a social platform with 100,000 fans. It is worth noting that these fraudulent accounts are still active on the social platform.
The same trick "remarks information is wrong"
"We have already booked the ticket for you. If you don't pay, you will be blacked by all airlines." Hearing the other party's warning, 21-year-old Yang Xiaobai panicked and quickly paid a deposit of 3750 yuan, which was then transferred. The balance of 9050 yuan. After being told that the final payment was frozen, she transferred another 9050 yuan...
Yang Xiaobai was a junior this year and went to Japan as an exchange student last year. According to the academic plan, I will return to China in September to continue my studies.
On June 30, an anxious Yang Xiaobai turned his attention to a certain social platform. By searching for "Japan's return ticket", she found an account called "Flight Inquiry-Ticket Office". After a private message, she quickly got a text message that the flight was successfully booked, but the strange thing was, "the other party has never received the final payment."
Yang Xiaobai stated in the remarks of the first remittance information: a social platform name + real name + Japan to Shanghai. But the other party said, "You have too many words in the payment note before it is frozen. The next time you don't have any notes in braille." Afterwards, she reduced the number of words and transferred the balance of 9050 yuan again. The second balance was still frozen.
"The remark information is wrong". This trap may seem simple, but it seems to be quite effective.
On June 16, Zhang Ming, who was an intern in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, was also "recruited." He remarked "July 14 + flight number + personal name" on the remittance information. The other party told him that the funds were frozen, "the date needs to be removed, and the flight number plus my name to re-note." He remittances twice in a row and lost a total of 33,200 yuan.
Zhang Ming, a 22-year-old senior, was placed in Kuala Lumpur for an internship in September last year. The internship was terminated at the end of March because of the epidemic situation, and the rent in Malaysia expired at the end of June. He urgently needs to return home. The air ticket on the regular route can only be after August, so he chose to go to a social platform to find the "Huang Niu" ticket agent, and he was recruited.
Zhang Meng, 27, graduated from graduate school in the United States. Because her visa and rent are about to expire, she found a ticket agent online and was scammed by more than 46,000 yuan. "Because there are more and more deceived people, they set up a WeChat group'social platform fraud complaint communication', hoping to unite together to protect rights." Zhang Meng said.
As of July 10, there were 87 members of the “Social Platform Fraud Complaint Communication” WeChat group, from the United Kingdom, Japan, the United States, South Korea, Malaysia, Canada, Belarus and many other countries, most of them were international students.
Common features edit "authentication information"
Yang Xiaobai was deceived by an account on a social platform called "Flight Inquiry-Ticket Office".
On July 12, the account was still being updated, and information on return air tickets from South Korea and Japan was released. Its registration time is October 30, 2013, and the first information release time is November 2, 2013. As of July 12, 2020, a total of 6462 messages were published, with over 120,000 followers. It has a profile picture of a Crown member of the social platform, calling itself "International Aviation Certification". In fact, Crown members can pay for it, and the profile and company can edit it themselves, but this is confusing. Yang Xiaobai said that the certificate, 100,000 fans, VIP members of the crown look... These seemingly "professional" information made her dizzy.
In fact, these Crown members are completely different from the official certified Blue V of the social platform, which is actually a carefully packaged private account.
Xiaopi, an international student, originally planned to buy a ticket from Kuala Lumpur to Shanghai on July 5, but was defrauded of 9,800 yuan by an account called "Return Flight-Global Visa Free". "Return to China-Global Visa Free" is also a member of the social platform, there is a "crown" symbol next to the head. The introduction describes itself as "Air China Customer Service Manager". The registration time was April 16, 2014, and as of July 11, 2020, a total of 2,951 messages were posted, showing that the fans were over 100,000.
Similarly, Zhang Mengzhong recruited an account called "International Travel Service". The registration time was August 23, 2013, showing 110,000 followers.
The difference from the previous two accounts is that this account introduces traffic to the WeChat official account. The introduction says "Regular international travel agencies issue tickets, no need to swipe tickets! All tickets are spot tickets. Please look for our company's corporate account when purchasing tickets. And the company's public account." Zhang Meng privately followed the account and paid attention to a WeChat public account called "Longteng International Tourism", and paid more than 46,000 yuan under the guidance of the customer service of the public account.
"We summarized it and felt that this is the same group of people and the same routine." Yang Xiaobai analyzed that these accounts have purchased more than 100,000 zombie fans and purchased "social platform members" to increase their impression points. At the same time, they publish frequently every day. Ticket information creates a false appearance.
Difficult to defend rights and fraudulent accounts are still active
On July 12, the reporter searched for a return ticket on the social platform, and still found a large number of scalper ticket accounts.
These accounts have common characteristics: social platform members, 100,000+ fans, and frequent release of ticket information. The reporter found that there were more than 1,000 comments on the account of "Return to China-Global Visa Free", and many of them accused him of being a liar. The account of the "Flight Inquiry-Ticket Office" released on July 9 there are 8 comments on the Russian return air ticket, all of which refer to it as a liar.
After falling into the trap of "return ticket agent", it is very difficult to defend rights.
After realizing that he had been deceived, Zhang Meng sought help from the Tianjin police, where he was registered, but was unable to file a case because he couldn't immediately go to the scene to make a statement. She also contacted the Chongqing police, where the scammer provided the company, and the police said the company's name was used fraudulently and could not be filed. In addition, she also contacted the police in Gansu where the fraudster's collection account is located, the United States police studying abroad, and my embassy in the United States, but none of them filed a case.
Check Air China
International ticket agency has been cancelled
On the evening of July 18, reporters from the West China Metropolis Daily and the cover reporter called Air China’s customer service hotline 95583. The staff said that at present, Air China has completely cancelled the agency authority for international tickets. Qunar, Ctrip and other platforms do not sell international tickets, let alone social platforms.
At present, the only way to buy international tickets is through the official channels of the airline, such as the official App, official website, and on-site sales counters at the airport. At present, airlines are still implementing the "five one" policy, and international tickets are still tight. The staff recommends that passengers who need to return home can make reservations for ticket purchases in the airline's official App in advance.
Lawyer's statement
Social platforms and commercial websites should carefully review the identity of the resident members
Lawyer Wang Rengen of Sichuan Mingju (Longquanyi) Law Firm said that when the nature of purchasing air tickets is still unclear, it can be treated differently for the time being. If the agent body is true and the qualifications are met, the two parties establish an agency contract legal relationship, and the contract stipulates that they can buy air tickets but not purchases, which constitutes a breach of contract and can claim liability for breach of contract. , Cancellation or cancellation of contract, refund of expenses, compensation for losses, etc., can be resolved through negotiation and litigation.
At the same time, social platforms and commercial websites should earnestly fulfill their main responsibilities and carefully review the identity of the members who are stationed. If they neglect to review and manage, they should also bear joint and several liabilities.
If the agent falsifies the facts, conceals the truth, and aims to defraud money, the fraud is suspected and should be investigated by the public security organ. Regarding the difficulty of filing a case, the Supreme Law’s interpretation on the application of the Criminal Procedure Law and the Provisions on the Procedures for Handling Criminal Cases by Public Security Organs have made relevant provisions: for crimes committed against or using computer networks, the crime location includes criminal acts The location of the website server in the place of occurrence, the location of the network access, the location of the site creator and administrator, the location of the computer information system and its administrator that was infringed, the location of the computer information system used by the defendant and the victim, and the location where the victim’s property suffered damage. In other words, as long as there is one point in the above behavior that can be related to the territory of China, the local public security organ should file an investigation.
(All international students in the text are pseudonyms)