Nowadays, all kinds of merchants will use the "membership system" to attract consumers and give points, attracting consumers to be "repeat customers" through "point redemption", "point gift", "point exchange" and so on. As everyone knows, "points" have also become a fraud trap. Recently, many fans have reported to the Liberation Daily Shangguan News that they have received a notice similar to "points redemption, non-redemption is about to expire and become invalid", and associated with shopping websites, but it is difficult to distinguish between true and false.
The survey shows that the end of the year and the beginning of the year is the peak of such notifications, and the first month of the lunar calendar has not yet ended, so the relevant information is frequently revealed. When Jiefang Daily and Shangguan News were looking for clarification on whether the points could be discounted in the end, they unexpectedly found that Xiao Chen (pseudonym), a reporter who graduated from a well-known 985 and 211 university, had also been deceived.
What kind of trap is it that makes highly educated and well-informed journalists also deceived?
Can points be discounted? It is difficult to exchange if it is not shipped
Xiao Chen (pseudonym) recalled his experience: on September 22 last year, the mobile phone number with the tail number of "7687" received a short message, the sender number was 106949914000068, and the content was "[Redemption Reminder] Dear tail number 7687 users, your accumulated 8850 points will be completely voided on September 23!" Open the a8y.cn/vztblq redeem the goods as soon as possible, and return to T Unsubscribe". The text message reappeared on September 23, but the "zero date" became September 24.
Seeing that the number of points is quite large, Xiao Chen clicked on the link to see what goods could be exchanged. After clicking on the link, the page jumps to a mall page, showing that Xiao Chen's "point balance" has grown to 8950 points, and there is a text reminder, to the effect that the points can be deducted from the price of the goods, expired and cleared, please use as soon as possible. There is also a countdown under the text, showing that only a dozen hours of points are about to expire.
The page also shows some of the product descriptions and the points required to redeem them. However, from the page, it is not possible to directly exchange points for goods, but can be deducted from part of the price. After clicking on the product image, the product introduction details similar to those of the regular e-commerce platform will pop up, you can click to buy, or consult online customer service.
Before receiving the text message, Xiao Chen just needed to buy a microwave oven, and the online platform exchange area where the SMS jumped just happened to have a microwave oven of a well-known brand. Xiao Chen inquired about the brand's official website and found that the official price of the microwave oven was about 369 yuan, and through the points exchange website, it only needed to pay 299 yuan to buy in the form of "points + cash".
Xiao Chen thought that the SMS came from the communication operator official, and the 8950 points were also communication points, and the jump website was the official exchange mall of the communication operator, so he placed an order to buy. When entering the delivery address, Xiao Chen also found that the bottom of the page has been scrolling through the latest purchase information, such as "a mobile phone number user has just redeemed an electric frying pan" and so on. No doubt about him, Xiao Chen closed the page after paying 299 yuan through WeChat and waited for the shipment.
Xiao Chen's order has never received a microwave oven
Who knows after waiting for more than a week, Xiao Chen has never received a microwave oven that promises "next day after placing an order". At this time, I checked the relevant websites, but found a lot of mysteries.
First of all, the so-called expiring 8950 points on the shopping website have been displayed when Xiao Chen has not made any login operations, which does not meet the common e-commerce platforms that require identity authentication before shopping.
Second, click the "Contact Customer Service" button on the shopping website, you can only submit text, and you can't get a reply.
Again, carefully check the text on the shopping website, full of loopholes: it should be "a mobile phone number user exchanged an electric frying pan 6 minutes ago", the actual writing is actually "6 minutes ago"; click the "Apply for Refund" button, almost at the same time pop up "Refund success, funds will be returned in the same way in 3 working days" Prompt, there is no review process at all.
Finally, the overall page of the shopping site is rough.
Xiao Chen also found the payment record of 299 yuan through the bill paid by WeChat, and found that the beneficiary was "Henan ZeroChu Network Technology Co., Ltd." The company's WeChat public account "Trend Strict Selection of New Products" has been stopped by WeChat officials because it is "suspected of fraud by user complaints and review by the platform".
The WeChat public account corresponding to the relevant point mall has been stopped
On September 30, Xiao Chen reported the case to the police station of his place of residence. Since Xiao Chen was not in Shanghai when he paid for the goods, the police officer said that the report may be transferred to the police station where he was deceived. A week later, Xiao Chen really received a call from the police station where he was at the time of payment, asking Xiao Chen to take notes. But Xiao Chen found that the road fare to and from the local area far exceeded 300 yuan. Under the trade-off, Xiao Chen chose to withdraw the case and admitted that he was unlucky.
"I tell you about this experience and hope to remind everyone that we must be vigilant." Xiao Chen told Jiefang Daily Shangguan News.
Out of nowhere, the "points" came from, and the National Anti-Fraud Center launched an interception
An investigation by a reporter from Jiefang Daily shangguan news found that the scam with the theme of "points" is similar to Xiao Chen's encounter, even if the number of "expired reminders" is different, the shopping platform where the link jumps are different, and the products promoted by the website are different.
For example, Jiefang Daily Shangguan News investigated two recent point redemption text messages sent to the same mobile phone number, as follows:
One of the two text messages was sent on February 10, 2022, with the content "[User Reminder] Balance Expiration Reminder: Dear **** (Mobile Phone Tail Number) Users, your accumulated 7188 members will all be voided on February 12, 2022, and the speed point h2q.cn/7WUUU Redeem the goods, return T refund"; the other one will be sent on February 17, 2022. The content is "[Expiration Reminder] Tiger Year Balance Reminder: Dear Tail Number **** (Mobile Phone Tail Number) Users, your accumulated 7188 members were all voided on February 19, and the speed point 9u5.cn/59HzQ redeem the goods and return N".
Clicking on the SMS link can be found that the two information jumps have different redemption platform URLs, the former is: v.viptaobaojifen.com, the latter is: guoqitixing.com. However, the display page is exactly the same on both platforms. At the same time, there is an inconspicuous prompt at the top of the page, indicating that the platform is not a mobile points mall.
Because the first platform URL contained the pinyin of "Taobao points", the reporter asked Alibaba for verification and was told that the url had nothing to do with Alibaba. At the same time, the reporter found through the pages of these two "exchange" platforms that their real names are called "Huishou No. 1 Store" and opened a public account on WeChat.
The operating entity of "Huishou No.1 Store" is "Shanghai Sigong Brothers Information Technology Co., Ltd.". According to the industrial and commercial registration information, the company was established on February 10, 2022, with a registered capital of 100,000 yuan. The "Huishou No.1 Store" public account was registered on February 19, 2022.
The reporter consulted the customer service of the "Huishou No. 1 store", where did the so-called "7188 member points" come from, and found that the so-called customer service robot provided by the so-called customer service agency for the third-party agency, even if the reporter chose "manual customer service", the "customer service" will only repeat the website introduction set in advance, repeatedly emphasizing that it is a regular shopping platform, selling genuine products, and providing "7 days without reason to return and exchange" services.
But the strange thing is that the reporter can see the communication information of other users through the customer service communication page, all of which require the website to ship or return as soon as possible. However, there was no human response from beginning to end.
On the so-called "manual customer service" online consultation page seen by the reporter, only a sentence in the circle was proposed by the reporter, but many other users could see the speeches of other users, and they never got a reply
Looking at the sales products of the "Huishou No. 1 Store", there is a lot of moisture. Taking a "Hilton five-star hotel duvet" with a price tag of "480 member points + 198 yuan" as an example, the website page shows "37,000 + redemption heat", and the scroll bar shows that users continue to redeem this product. However, the reporter inquired through the mainstream e-commerce platform, the pricing of the same product with the same brand was about 160 yuan, and the brand side did not promote the product "Exclusive to Hilton Five-star Hotel". Look at another "Philips Luxury Three-Headed Razor" with a price tag of "500 member points + 278 yuan", the average market price is about 170 yuan.
It can be seen that even if all the products sold on the website are genuine and shipped as agreed, consumers may not be able to obtain discounts through "membership points". In fact, before the press release, the reporter found that when clicking on the v.viptaobaojifen.com link through the text message, a prompt from the "National Anti-Fraud Center" popped up, pointing out that "the website/web page you visit has a risk of fraud, please pay attention to the safety of personal information and property." It can be seen that the problem of this website is not small.
"Points redemption" scams also have regularities
In fact, through Xiao Chen's experience and the investigation of Jiefang Daily and Shangguan News, it can already be seen that although the "points exchange" scam is strongly deceptive, it is by no means invulnerable. For ordinary users, you can judge whether you have encountered a trap by the following points:
First of all, when encountering information such as "points redemption", "points discount", "point gifts", etc., we must be vigilant, because "pie will not fall from the sky". In this type of scam, the theme may not only be "points", but also "membership points", "balance", "gold coins" and other references. For users, seeing a large number of "points", they should first ask customer service about the source of these "points", and then combine their previous consumption experience to see whether they have obtained points because they have become members or made consumption, or whether they are fraudulent to solicit customers.
Secondly, the link names provided by such scams are likely to be suspected of "Pong brand" and "Pong brand": communication operators, major e-commerce platforms, major payment platforms, etc., may all be the object of "Pong". The official websites and apps of these enterprises and platforms are not difficult to obtain, and users can contact the official customer service to confirm the authenticity of the "points" and whether there are relevant preferential activities.
Third, we should pay attention to the so-called "points exchange" and "point exchange" products provided by relevant websites. In addition to learning about products through the "Product Details" on the website, you can also find products and compare prices through mainstream shopping websites. In addition, even if related products are sold on mainstream shopping websites, we must pay attention to consumer evaluations to avoid scammers setting up "serial sets" - opening online stores on mainstream shopping websites, falsely quoting prices or fictitious evaluations, and then using "preferential prices" to induce consumers to place orders through "points exchange" and other forms.
Finally, you should install and run the National Anti-Fraud Center app on your phone so that you can be alerted when you click on the problem link.
At the same time, regulators, social platforms and brands that are "ponged" should also pay attention to such scams, take the initiative to intervene, and protect the interests of users: First, communication operators should increase the management of group marketing SMS subjects. The main body of this type of marketing SMS belongs to advertisers and should be regulated. Second, online platforms such as WeChat public accounts must bear the responsibility of reviewing settled merchants and provide consumers with complaint and reporting channels. If fraudulent behavior or consumption behavior is discovered, the relevant merchants should be stopped in time and consumers reminded. Third, businesses that provide points services should take the initiative to "crack down on counterfeiting", not only to explain what real and effective points activities look like, but also to open a knife to "Li Ghost" to remind consumers to avoid being deceived.