Liangshan Prefecture, Sichuan Province, recently cracked the province's first case of "Internet celebrity economy" chaos case, two Liangshan Internet celebrity anchors Zhao Linger and Qu Bu were approved for arrest for the crime of counterfeiting registered trademarks and false advertising.
The two had sold counterfeit Daliangshan agricultural products on the live broadcast platform in the name of "helping farmers", and the amount involved exceeded 10 million yuan.
This case uncovered the falsehood and truth behind Liangshan Internet celebrity's "helping farmers".
In August 2022, Zhao Linger and Qu Bu released a "chance encounter" video on the short video platform, in which the two met in a remote mountain village in Liangshan and invited each other to their home.
The video quickly went viral, with both accounts having more than 2 million followers.
Since then, the two began to frequently live broadcast goods, claiming that they were helping farmers sell agricultural products, attracting a large number of netizens to buy.
However, all of this is just a fake persona created by them.
After police investigation, Zhang Mou, the person in charge of Chengdu Xiaoyu Zhunong Media Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Xiaoyu Zhunong"), the MCN agency behind Zhao Linger and Qubu, went deep into Liangshan in July 2022 to find local "Internet celebrity seedlings" in order to incubate Internet celebrities and realize cash through live broadcasts. Zhao Moumou (Zhao Ling'er) and the young Ah Ri Moumou (Qu Bu) and others became their targets.
By designing the script and words, Zhang and others arranged the images of innocent and kind "heroines" and "male protagonists" for the two, and released short videos of "chance encounters", "entrepreneurship", "helping farmers" and other plots on the short video platform to attract attention.
In a short period of time, Zhao Linger and Qu Bu's Internet celebrity accounts both have more than 2 million followers.
During the live broadcast, Zhao Linger and Qu Bu claimed that they were helping farmers and selling high-quality original ecological products from Daliang Mountain.
However, in reality, almost all of the products they sell are counterfeit products purchased at low prices from other places, shoddy and sold at high prices.
According to the police investigation, they bought honey, walnuts and other agricultural and sideline products from food companies in Nanjing, Chengdu and other places at low prices, and then sold them on live broadcast platforms at prices much higher than the market price, defrauding huge illegal profits.
After receiving clues, the Liangshan police quickly set up a special team to carry out investigation.
After an in-depth investigation, the veil of this case was gradually revealed.
In May 2023, the police arrested Zhang and others. During the interrogation, Zhang and others confessed to their criminal acts.
In July 2023, the People's Procuratorate of Zhaojue County, Liangshan Prefecture, Sichuan Province, approved the arrest of Zhang, Guo and other suspects in accordance with the law.
At present, the relevant accounts involved in the case have been permanently banned.
This case is a reminder that the online world may seem illusory, but the falsehood and fraud in it can cause serious damage to real life.
We should remain vigilant and not believe false information on the Internet, and at the same time consciously abide by laws and regulations to protect our legitimate rights and interests.
This case also reminds us once again that helping farmers is a noble and arduous task that needs to be undertaken by people who truly care about farmers, agriculture and rural development.
Those who take advantage of the kindness and trust of farmers to commit fraud in the name of helping farmers not only violate morality and law, but also damage the interests and reputations of farmers.
It is hoped that this case will attract the attention of relevant parties, strengthen supervision in the field of online live broadcasting, and protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers.
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