Because of the credulous 58 city recruitment advertisement, a Chinese post-90s man was abducted by an online fraud gang and sent to Cambodia, forced to act as a "blood slave" Incident caused concern.
Why does a small job advertisement put users' lives at risk? Has 58.com, as the platform party, fulfilled its audit obligations? At present, the case is under ongoing investigation.
The reporter checked the 12309 China Procuratorial Network and the Black Cat Complaint Platform, and the cases of enterprises publishing false recruitment information in 58 cities are not unique, and some involve online fraud, gambling and even pornography.
Industry insiders said that 58.com mainly relies on traffic scalping to make profits, and the flood of false information is intrinsically related to its operating model, and raising the threshold for information release will affect its income. The main problem facing 58.com is the quality of information, and if it is not solved, the pressure of public opinion and supervision will become increasing.
The "Blood Slave" case is under ongoing investigation, and if the platform fails to fulfill its audit obligations, it will be held responsible
On February 16, a "Remarks of the Spokesperson of the Chinese Embassy in Cambodia on the Case of Chinese Citizens Being Kept in Captivity as 'Blood Slaves' by Online Gambling Syndicates" published on the website of the Chinese Embassy in Cambodia showed that "on February 12, the First Hospital of China and Cambodia in Cambodia reported to the Chinese Embassy that the hospital admitted a Chinese man surnamed Li who was coerced into smuggling to Cambodia by a criminal gang because of his credulity in false recruitment advertisements on the same city website, and was illegally detained by the online gambling and telecommunications fraud gang in Chinatown, Sihanoukville Port, Cambodia, and was repeatedly pumped for large doses of blood. Lives are in danger. ”
At one point, Beiqingshen revealed the details of the case. According to reports, in May 2021, Li Yaming (pseudonym) saw a Guangxi nightclub recruiting security guards on the 58 same city. In June of the same year, Li Yaming was transferred to Sihanoukville, Cambodia, while looking for a job.
The article mentioned that Li Yaming was repeatedly bought and sold to the internet investment company to do fraudulent telephone services, because he refused to participate in online fraud, and in the following six months, he was treated as a "human blood bag". Because the blood type is RhO, Li Yaming will be pumped out of two vials of blood every other month and a half, each bottle is about 350 ml, a total of seven blood draws.
A spokesman for the Embassy in Cambodia said that the police in Sihanoukville Province have officially filed a case in this regard, and the police of China and Cambodia are coordinating to carry out relevant investigation work and strive to solve the case as soon as possible. At the same time, the Chinese Embassy in Cambodia said: "Remind Chinese citizens who want to work in Cambodia to follow formal channels and not trust false advertisements for high-paying recruitment." In the event of fraud, kidnapping, restriction of personal freedom, etc., it is necessary to try to report the case to the Cambodian police as soon as possible and inform the embassy of the situation, so that the police can file a case for investigation in a timely manner. ”
Why does a small job advertisement put users at risk for their lives? As a platform party, has 58.com fulfilled its audit obligations?
In response to this incident, the Blue Whale TMT reporter contacted the relevant people in 58 city, the other party responded that he was deeply sympathetic to the victim's suffering, and at the same time urgently communicated to the relevant departments, knowing that the case is under continuous investigation, and at present, 58 City has not found the recruitment information released by the history of the company.
So, if the platform fails to fulfill its audit obligations, what responsibility will it bear? According to the relevant provisions of the E-commerce Law, if the platform fails to fulfill its obligations of review and management, the relevant competent department shall order it to make corrections within a time limit; if it fails to make corrections within the time limit, it shall be fined between 20,000 and 100,000 yuan; if the circumstances are serious, it shall be ordered to stop business for rectification and shall be fined between 100,000 and 500,000 yuan.
Zhao Hu, a partner at Beijing Zhongwen Law Firm, told Blue Whale TMT that when someone has complained about false recruitment information, the platform should find a way to distinguish which enterprise account is normal and which enterprise account is abnormal. If there are many illegal and criminal accounts on a platform website, the platform should bear responsibility.
Regarding the follow-up of the case, Blue Whale TMT reporters will continue to pay attention.
58.com has been complained about many times for false recruitment information, and the public reputation is generally low
The reporter found through a search on the complaint platform that the suspected false recruitment information in 58.com was not an isolated case.
On the 12309 China Procuratorial Network, there are a total of 2,200 indictments against 58.com; in the past year, there have been more than 520 indictments related to 58.com.
The detailed course of the indictment is even more shocking. The reporter found that there are not only gambling platforms and online fraud companies that release recruitment information through 58.com, but even some people recruit prostitutes through 58.com.
On the black cat complaint platform, many consumers also reported that they were caught in a routine loan because of their credulity to false recruitment information on the same city of 58.
The reporter interviewed a number of human resources workers and job seekers to learn that in the recruitment industry, the reputation of 58.com is very low, and even some consumers directly call it a "scam company".
Fu Minfang (pseudonym), who is engaged in human resources work, told reporters that as a recruiter, the positions provided by 58.com are relatively basic, such as decorators, cleaners, etc.; in addition, some part-time jobs may have the need to obtain resumes in 58.com. "Professional positions are basically not found in 58.com, and the professionalism of the 58.com talent pool and professional positions are not very matched, on the other hand, recruiters will also think that 58.com has more false information and bad reputation."
Subsequently, the reporter contacted a human resources staff of a cleaning company, who said that he had signed a one-year cooperation contract with 58 Tongcheng, "but through the recruitment of this website, either it is impossible to recruit people, or the people recruited are more mobile, and they will leave after a period of time." ”
In addition, Fu Minfang said that compared with other recruitment platforms, the sales feedback of 58 Tongcheng is more untimely and does not look very professional, "When the cooperation period expires and is about to be renewed, no one in 58 Tongcheng even took the initiative to contact whether to renew or not." ”
In the impression of ordinary users, 58.com is also full of false information. The reporter interviewed a number of users, and the vast majority of them said that they had no experience in casting resumes in 58 cities. Many other users reacted that because they had used the 58.com software, they frequently received harassing phone calls, including receiving promotional calls from 58.com sales staff after releasing recruitment needs, and job seekers receiving recruitment calls from companies that were not delivered.
The reporter's note immediately registered the account of 58.com. Only filled in the personal relevant information, and did not fill in the willingness to find a job, but the next day a company dialed the reporter's phone and said that he saw a job resume in 58.com.
Why is disinformation rampant?
The reporter used "58 same city" as the keyword in the black cat complaint search and found that the complaints about 58 same city have exceeded 11,600. There are consumer complaints in almost every area of its layout; among them, there are countless complaints about false recruitment, rental housing and waterproofing.
Ironically, Yao Jinbo's original intention in founding 58.com in 2005 was because he was defrauded of 1200 yuan by an intermediary in the process of renting a house. At the recording site of the "None but You" program, Yao Jinbo was asked "if you can, what law do you want to enact", he said: "Scammers are all sentenced to death."
So, how did such a comprehensive life service company as 58.com become a "scam company" in the mouth of users? What does this have to do with the operational logic behind it?
Public information shows that 58.com relies on free channels for small and medium-sized businesses and ordinary users to publish and obtain information, and was in a state of loss in the early stage of entrepreneurship; it did not launch a membership service until 2008, and then launched a bidding ranking service similar to a search engine in 2012. Relying on this business model, 58.com turned a profit, landed on the US stock market in 2013, and delisted from the US stock market seven years later.
According to the first quarterly report of 2020 released before the delisting of 58.com, its revenue for the current period was 2.5603 billion yuan, and the net profit attributable to common shareholders was 1.6386 billion yuan. Among them, online promotion products and membership services are the main force of 58.com's revenue, with member services contributing 815.6 million yuan in revenue, and online promotion services achieving revenue of 1.5954 billion yuan in the quarter.
However, a number of industry insiders told reporters that in fact, the nature of the work of 58 service objects in the same city is still based on intermediaries, and in order to obtain more B-end and C-end users, the corresponding audit tends to be relaxed, which makes false information difficult to eliminate. In the field of recruitment, 58.com has certain advantages in the blue-collar recruitment market, and the platform provides positions positioned in the middle and low end, which also brings certain challenges to platform supervision.
In this regard, Internet analyst Ge Jia said that the flood of false information in 58.com has an intrinsic relationship with its operating model, and 58.com mainly relies on traffic scalping to make profits, but if false information becomes a plus point of its business model, dealing with false information, standardizing information release, and raising the threshold for information release, its revenue will be affected.
In response to the chaos of the platform, 58.com has also launched a "service guarantee plan" to eliminate user concerns. According to the introduction page of the "Service Guarantee Plan", in the user's use of the merchant services that have joined the 58 Service Assurance Plan, if the information is false or invalid (including but not limited to the merchant fraudulently using the brand, the actual lack of the service), the property is damaged (including but not limited to the inability to contact after receiving the deposit in advance, and the service is not completed after paying the money), 58.com will provide users with cash compensation and severely punish the enterprise.
However, from the real cases, it can be seen that many 58 users in the same city are still struggling in the scam, and some even threaten the safety of life and property, so that users have no way to complain.
The quality of information has become a constraint to development, and the "magic website" is no longer magical
"58 same city, a magical website" Yang Mi for the 58 city endorsement of this slogan, the public can almost hear it, but from the situation in recent years, 58 city is not happy.
This can be seen from the financial report data. From 2015 to 2019, the revenue of 58.com was 4.478 billion yuan, 7.592 billion yuan, 10.07 billion yuan, 13.14 billion yuan and 15.58 billion yuan, and the revenue growth rate was 185.11%, 69.54%, 32.62%, 30.48% and 18.56% respectively, which obviously showed a continuous downward trend.
In recent years, 58.com has been non-stop in terms of market expansion. In the field of recruitment, it has acquired China Talents Network, acquired Rubik's Cube Micro-Hunt, acquired Anjuke in the field of rental housing, and platforms such as Driving School One Point Pass and Uxin Pai have also been included. In addition, 58.com also participates in e-driving and holds a stake in Left Bai.
In September 2020, 58.com completed privatization, ending a 7-year trip to the U.S. stock market. At present, 58.com has split off a number of independent businesses, including Swan to Home (formerly 58 to Home), Fast Dog Taxi, Turn, Catch Up Network, China Talents Network, and 58 City Pictures.
58.com introduces itself on the introduction page of its official website: 58.com, as a leading life service platform in China, has businesses covering recruitment, real estate, automobiles, second-hand, local life services and finance. At the user service level, it is not only a platform for information interaction, but also a one-stop life service platform, and gradually establishes a full range of marketing solutions for merchants.
Despite merging with Chaji.com and dominating and defeating its former rivals, Yao Jinbo still faces the competition between integrated service platforms such as Meituan and vertical platforms.
In terms of recruitment business, its strong enemies are BOSS direct recruitment, Zhaopin recruitment; in terms of real estate transactions, shells can not be ignored; second-hand transactions, idle fish, all things new life directly hit the turn; in second-hand car transactions and housekeeping services, 58.com also faces a number of fierce enemies.
In turn, looking at 58.com, in July 2021, Swan arrived home to submit an IPO prospectus to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange, and half a month later, Swan arrived home and suspended the listing process in the United States, saying that it would operate in strict accordance with laws and regulations. On April 8, 2021, Angel submitted a listing application to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, and in October of the same year, according to the information of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, the IPO prospectus previously submitted by Anchor has been "invalid".
Ge Jia said that the main problem currently facing 58.com is the problem of information quality, "which also makes 58.com difficult, but if it is not solved, the pressure of public opinion and supervision will become more and more intense, and it is likely to erupt in a concentrated manner." ”