Recently, many people have received some text messages that seem to be quite tempting to redeem points. However, these so-called offers are most likely just a consumer trap. Journalists investigate and reveal the tricks behind it. Ms. Wang and Mr. Lai are the representatives of the two victims, respectively. Ms. Wang received a text message saying that she had 6580 points about to expire, so she hurriedly clicked on the link and bought a watch with 889 points and 199 yuan. A week later, she received the form, but found that it was of poor quality and the merchant refused to return it. After Mr. Lai received a text message from the merchant, he used his points and added more than 200 yuan to buy a watch, and the mall also promised to reward iQiyi members. However, after he paid, neither the watch was shipped, nor did the iQiyi member arrive. The reporter's investigation shows that this kind of "points exchange" SMS routine is usually "wide net", merchants send SMS messages with links to a large number of people, taking advantage of consumers' intolerance of points expired, luring them to buy inferior products. According to data from the Sina Black Cat complaint platform, as of October 20, there have been more than 4,500 complaints involving "points exchange", of which 32% have not been resolved.
The China Consumers Association also received complaints from consumers around New Year's Day 2023 about operators using the expiration of points to urge them to redeem goods, and issued a warning. The authorities also confirmed that some of the goods were counterfeit products, and some branded products were overstocked for many years. These findings raise a number of questions: Why does this consumer trap persist repeatedly? Are there better regulatory measures in place by the government and relevant authorities to protect the rights and interests of consumers? Have you ever encountered a similar problem? What advice do you have to avoid this consumption trap? Recently, a news about consumers being deceived has attracted widespread attention. According to reports, a consumer received a text message saying that his points would expire at the end of the month, and he could redeem them by clicking on the link to enter the mall. Consumers mistakenly believe that this is a mobile operator's points exchange activity, so they use thousands of points and spend hundreds of yuan to "exchange" a sweeping robot. After investigation, it was found that the items sold in the mall named "Taopin Preferred" on the website were all in the form of points and cash, and the company's legal representatives also had Taopin Yanxuan Technology (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. and Quanzhou Exchange Reminder E-commerce Co., Ltd. under their names.
At present, the two companies Taopin Preferential and Taopin Yanxuan are both in a state of deregistration, and have received more than 60 complaints on the Sina Black Cat complaint platform. Screenshots of the SMS and redemption websites provided by consumers show that these products are defective and unusable, and the merchants do not provide refunds and after-sales services. This is a fraudulent and misleading behavior for consumers. Consumers often lack understanding of products and are prone to fall into the traps set by merchants. For this kind of behavior, we need to strengthen regulation and consumer education. Consumers should enhance their awareness of self-protection, do not blindly believe in the so-called points redemption, preferential activities, etc., and conduct sufficient investigation and understanding before purchasing. At the same time, the government and relevant agencies should strictly regulate the market, crack down on fraud, and strengthen the protection of consumer rights and interests. We should keep in mind that a fair and healthy consumer market can only be created through stronger regulation and increased consumer awareness. In this case, we can see that consumers are easy to believe in so-called preferential activities, while merchants take advantage of consumers' greed and shortcomings of not understanding the market situation to obtain benefits. This kind of behavior is shocking and alarming to many people.
We should share more cases like this to raise the vigilance of consumers, and at the same time, we should strengthen relevant laws and regulations to effectively protect the rights and interests of consumers. So, what do you think should be done to strengthen regulation and protect consumer rights in response to this kind of fraud? Feel free to leave a message in the comment area to share your views. Recently, the Shenzhen Municipal Market Supervision Bureau has received many complaints from consumers, reflecting that Taopin Preferred, Taopin Yanxuan and other companies are slow to reply to customer service, the after-sales service provided is not timely enough, and there are also doubts about the points issued by these companies. Although the complaints have been closed, the regulator has indicated that the sending of text messages in the name of the company is not within its jurisdiction. Recently, some consumers have reported that they have received a reminder of the expiration of points from "Yanpin Partner", and the goods purchased after these points are all counterfeit and shoddy products or goods whose actual value is much lower than the selling price. In addition, there are many consumer complaints about platforms such as "Today's Redemption" and "Duoduo". Most of the redemption sites complained about by these consumers are registered in Shenzhen. However, companies such as China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Telecom said that the redemption sites reported by these consumers had nothing to do with them.
Consumers should pay attention to identifying the official website to avoid being deceived by counterfeit websites. According to China Mobile Group, Mobile's own points exchange business is sent by a service code starting with 10658, while SMS starting with 1068/1069 is a short message service operator applying to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and providing message service numbers for other group customers. Because false points information infringes on consumers' right to know and the right to make their own choices, experts believe that this kind of behavior is false propaganda and should be strengthened to protect the rights and interests of consumers. In general, consumers should pay attention to identifying the official website when using points redemption businesses to avoid being deceived. So, how to improve consumers' risk awareness when using points redemption business? According to Zheng Zhifeng, an associate professor at the School of Civil and Commercial Law of Southwest University of Political Science and Law, the market supervision department should take corresponding measures to manage the behavior of some merchants to induce consumption through false points activities. Zheng Zhifeng believes that for these businesses, the market supervision department should order them to make corrections, and give corresponding penalties according to the severity of the circumstances, such as warnings, confiscation of illegal gains, fines, etc. For businesses with serious circumstances, they should be ordered to suspend business for rectification or have their business licenses revoked.
Zheng Zhifeng also pointed out that if merchants induce consumption of counterfeit and shoddy products, then these merchants may constitute the crime of producing and selling counterfeit and shoddy products. Some consumers find that when they want to complain, the business has already been deregistered, but this does not exempt the business from the obligation to take responsibility. In the case that the qualification of the legal entity has been cancelled, the merchant still continues to sell inferior products in the name of the legal person, which is not only a breach of contract, but also a fraud, and the consumer can claim punitive damages. From the perspective of criminal law, the perpetrator may be suspected of constituting the crime of contract fraud. Due to the small amount of single consumption and the cost of rights protection, some consumers gave up complaining. However, this phenomenon deserves great attention. The China Consumers Association reminds consumers not to click on unknown links that remind them of the expiration of their points to avoid becoming victims of fraudulent activities. Experts suggest that consumers should be cautious when encountering points redemption activities for goods or services purchased by making up the price difference, combining cash, etc., and pay attention to the comparison of product information and actual value. If you find that you have been deceived, you should report it to the departments of market regulation, public security, internet information, and other departments, as well as consumer protection organizations, so as to form a joint force of the whole society.
To sum up, in response to the behavior of merchants inducing consumption through false point activities, Zheng Zhifeng believes that the market supervision department should take corresponding measures to manage and punish the violating merchants. Consumers should also be more vigilant, protect their legitimate rights and interests, actively report fraud, and form a joint force of the whole society to crack down. Question guidance: Have you ever encountered a similar situation where fake points activities induce consumption? How did you cope? How do you think we can better protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers?