Du Hongyi is not the only old man who has the same experience. At present, the police of Huangchuan County, Xinyang City, Henan Province have accepted the case, and the Huangchuan County police revealed to reporters that according to the local investigation in the past six months, tens of thousands of deceived people have been found across the country, and most of them are middle-aged and elderly people over 50 years old, and the amount of money involved in the case has been found to be hundreds of millions of yuan.
In August 2023, Du Hongyi swiped a video on the short video platform. It was an elegant white-haired woman in a cheongsam who looked to be in her 60s.
She said in the video, "Middle-aged and elderly friends like me, if you are also retired and have nothing to do at home, either walking and watching videos, or taking grandchildren to talk about idle articles, then I recommend you to learn mobile phone video editing." After learning, not only can you record the growth of your grandson, but also post it to the short video platform to get income, and now there is an opportunity to take classes for free, click on the link below the video......"
Aunt Du clicked on the link and jumped to a course introduction interface. The interface shows that the course is a five-day free video production course created by "Yuanben School", and it is pulled to the bottom of the page, and there is a box to fill in the mobile phone number.
Almost without hesitation, Du Hongyi filled in his mobile phone number.
On the third day of the course, the "teacher" began to sell an advanced video editing course for her, showing some cases of the elderly successfully relying on short videos to monetize, and the "teacher" promised to pay 2580 yuan, and the two parties will sign a contract to ensure that the short video platform account of the contracted students reaches 1000 fans within 21 days, and there is income, and if it is not reached, a full refund can be made.
Under the words and routines of the course consultant, Du Hongyi signed up and paid, but she found that the content of the paid course and the free course was almost the same. After a few lessons, the "teacher" started selling new "package" products again. And Du Hongyi's account has not exceeded 1,000 followers so far, nor has he made money from the short video platform. After repeated delays from the course consultant, she was unable to get a refund.
And Du Hongyi is not the only old man who has the same experience. At present, the police of Huangchuan County, Xinyang City, Henan Province have accepted the case, and the Huangchuan County police revealed to reporters that according to the local investigation in the past six months, tens of thousands of deceived people have been found across the country, and most of them are middle-aged and elderly people over 50 years old, and the amount of money involved in the case has been found to be hundreds of millions of yuan.
Students take careful notes in each lesson. Photo courtesy of the interviewee
"Full refund guarantee for no money"
Du Hongyi is 58 years old, and when she was young, she worked hard all the way from the countryside to the city and became a primary school Chinese teacher. After retiring, she took a break from her busy work and had no waves in her life, except for the occasional weekend help with her grandchildren.
In recent years, Du Hongyi has developed the habit of brushing short videos, and the most brushed is news short videos, sometimes she will set the App to play automatically, listening while doing her own thing, so the time spent on the short video platform every day is 2 to 3 hours.
She also hopes to be able to record her life and let herself be "seen" on the Internet like an old man in a cheongsam.
After Du Hongyi signed up for the free video production class, later that day, she received a friend application from Wang Jing, who claimed to be a video class teacher at the "Yuanben Academy". Wang Jing sent her a live broadcast link and asked her to make an appointment for a video editing public class at 8 o'clock that night.
Du Hongyi is very serious in class, and for this reason, she specially prepared a book for the course. It is recorded in the notes that in the first class, I learned how to open video editing software and how to import materials. In the second lesson, I learned how to download other people's videos and remove the ID watermark in the lower right corner of the video through the program that comes with the zoom or editing software.
After taking two classes, Du Hongyi felt that the content taught in the course was less and the pace of the lecture was too slow, "what can be learned in 3 minutes, she will teach for an hour."
In the third to fifth classes, Ms. Wang Jing basically did not talk about new editing skills, but began to spend a lot of time in the course to promote and sell the advanced courses produced by "Yuanben School".
This advanced course is called "21-day short video operation class", and teacher Wang Jing said that this course will teach some video production content more systematically, and the price is 2580 yuan.
The price of 2580 yuan made Du Hongyi hesitate a little, and the reason why she made up her mind to sign up was that Teacher Wang Jing gave a package ticket for the students in the live broadcast room. According to the live video of the course provided by Du Hongyi, the lecturer Wang Jing showed a contract for the online students, claiming that after paying 2580 yuan, the two parties will sign a contract to ensure that the short video platform account of the contracted students will reach 1000 fans within 21 days, and there will be income, and a full refund can be made if it is not reached.
Promises in the live broadcast room. The first contract presented at the "Genmoto Academy". Photo courtesy of the interviewee
77-year-old Wang Guiyun was also encouraged by the promise, she said, "At that time, she promised that after finishing her studies, there will be an increase in fans, and if the fans increase, they can bring goods and receive advertisements, and 2,580 yuan will be earned back soon, and even if they can't earn back, the tuition will be refunded." And the contract will be signed, which looks formal. ”
According to the screenshots of the communication with the customer service teachers of the "Yuanben Academy" provided by many students, the customer service teachers have made similar commitments.
On August 20, 2023, after taking the third free video editing course, Du Hongyi paid a deposit of 500 yuan in the live broadcast room. After that, under the urging of the customer service of "Yuanben School", she paid the remaining 2,080 yuan. According to the Alipay platform, the recipient of her money is: Muzi Wisdom (Beijing) Technology Co., Ltd. This company is also one of the payees of the "Yuanben School".
Three real and false contracts
About three days later, the video operation class officially started, and according to the upper right corner of the page, more than 10,000 people were online at the same time.
But Du Hongyi found that the courses taught were almost the same as the free classes, and "you can't learn anything new at all."
On the 5th day of the course, the teacher in the live broadcast room was replaced, no longer Teacher Wang Jing, but replaced by a male who no longer appeared on the camera to explain PPT. The course teacher also began to promote and sell a new product: a directional fan package worth 3,000 yuan, and claimed that if you want to make money as soon as possible, you must buy the directional fan package.
At that time, Du Hongyi's course was not halfway through, and there was no increase in followers and exposure on his social account, "At this time, he began to collect money again, and I suddenly realized that I wouldn't be deceived." ”
At the end of August 2023, Du Hongyi found the customer service teacher of the "Yuanben Academy" course to ask for a refund on the grounds that the 2,580 yuan course could not learn any valuable technology, and the customer service teacher claimed that "you can get a refund, but you need to go through the process." And offered to give her a refund after a month. However, the refund date has been postponed several times since then. Until a few months later, the customer service teacher did not reply to her WeChat message.
Hu Xiaoying, from Inner Mongolia, also encountered refund problems. During the free course, Ms. Wang Jing showed her a 74-year-old student, claiming that the student had successfully earned back the tuition fee in just one month after completing the course, and now has an income of 4,000-5,000 yuan per month.
And when she wanted to get a refund, the customer service who always replied to the message in a timely manner never replied to her request. The Beijing News reporter sent friend applications to the enterprise WeChat of these customer services, but they all showed that they could no longer add friends. According to Tianyan, the full name of Yijia Online is: Beijing Yijia Online Technology Co., Ltd., and the legal representative of the company is Sun Xueqiang.
The reporter found that in the process of facilitating the signing, the "Yuanben Academy" showed three contracts for the students, and the content of the "refund conditions" in these three contracts was different.
When introducing the course in the live broadcast room, the live broadcast teacher made it clear that after paying the tuition fee, he could sign a contract with the company, and the ninth item in the contract, the refund rule clearly wrote: "Teacher Wang Jing (that is, the live broadcast teacher) operated the student's account for 21 days and reached 1,000 fans and 100,000 views, and there is a full refund of 2,580 yuan from the company if it does not reach the company within 21 days."
However, when communicating with students on WeChat to sell courses, the text version of the contract issued to students, in which the content of the "refund rules", is changed to: "Party A has 1,000 fans + 100,000 views within 21 days, and has successfully earned, if it does not reach Party A's 2580 full refund, if it is reached within 21 days and is non-refundable." ”
The second contract presented in the communication on social networks. Photo courtesy of the interviewee
And it was the third contract that was really signed. The instructor will send a link to the students, and by clicking on the link, they will jump to a contract signing interface, the text size in the interface is small, and many elderly students told the reporter that they did not read the contract carefully because they could not read the text clearly, and signed the contract directly.
The refund content in this version of the contract has been changed to: "Party A helps Party B to learn within 21 days, and Party B is expected to reach 1,000 fans and 100,000 playbacks through the guidance of teachers, and if it is not reached, it can be repeated learning."
Regarding these three contracts with different contents, Cao Zongwen, a lawyer at Beijing Cailiang Law Firm, believes that these three contracts are all evidentiary materials in the crime of fraud, "From a legal point of view, consumers have signed a third contract with Beijing Aixin Gaoge Technology Co., Ltd., so they should protect their rights according to the third contract." But the contract that was eventually signed was based on the fact that the consumer had been deceived and was concluded against his true will. ”
Cao Zongwen said that the contract concluded by fraud is a voidable contract, and the evidence that consumers prove that they have been defrauded is the first two contracts presented by Party A, and Party A made false promises to deceive consumers step by step.
The third contract was finally signed. Photo courtesy of the interviewee
The number of deceived people is tens of thousands, and the amount involved is hundreds of millions
On Tianyancha, the reporter did not find a company registered under the name of "Yuanben School". According to the transfer records of the students, there are as many as 8 companies receiving from the "Yuanben Academy". According to Tianyancha, all 8 companies were established between 2021 and 2023. Including Beijing Aixin Gaoge Technology Co., Ltd., Muzi Wisdom (Beijing) Technology Co., Ltd., Beijing Yijia Online Technology Co., Ltd., Open Yunji (Beijing) Education Technology Co., Ltd., Henan Yunshang Jinli Information Technology Co., Ltd., Beijing Yijia Online Technology Co., Ltd. Huangchuan Branch, Xinmai Bean Sprouts (Beijing) Technology Co., Ltd., Meow Miao Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd.
Guangguangyunji (Beijing) Education Technology Co., Ltd., controlled by the legal representative Sun Xueqiang, was established at the earliest, in May 2021. New Wheat Bean Sprouts (Beijing) Technology Co., Ltd. has the shortest operating time, only 4 months, and the company has passed a resolution to dissolve and deregister in December 2023.
Among these 8 companies, there are 5 companies associated with Sun Xueqiang, including Beijing Yijia Online Technology Co., Ltd., Henan Yunshang Jinli Information Technology Co., Ltd., Beijing Yijia Online Technology Co., Ltd. Huangchuan Branch and Beijing Aixin Gaoge Technology Co., Ltd. The contact information of Muzi Wisdom (Beijing) Technology Co., Ltd. is the same as that of Beijing Aixin Gaoge Technology Co., Ltd. The reporter called the mobile phone number several times, but the phone could not be reached.
The reporter called the contact number of "Beijing Yijia Online Technology Co., Ltd.", which was represented by Sun Xueqiang, and it also showed that it had been shut down.
Not only that, the first six of the above-mentioned enterprises have been included in the list of abnormal business operations by the Market Supervision and Administration Bureau, and the reason is that they cannot be contacted through the registered residence or business premises. The reporter also found that most of the business scope approved and licensed by the above-mentioned enterprises is "software development, information services", etc., and none of the company's economic scope includes the field of "education and training". Among them, the approved business scope related to "education" is: education consulting services (excluding education and training activities involving license approval).
At the end of August 2023, Du Hongyi created the "Yuanben School Victim Rights Protection Group". In the rights protection group, Zhao Qi, 73 years old from Henan, is one of the victims who have been defrauded the most. In October 2023, while she was doing odd jobs in Beijing, she received a call from Tian Tian, a lecturer claiming to be "Yuanben Academy". After listening to the words of "1,000 fans, 100,000 plays, all the money paid will be earned, and the full refund will be given if you can't earn it", and I signed up for the course. When signing up, Zhao Qi thought, "If you can make easy money just by moving your fingers, why should I have to work at such an old age." ”
During the 21-day operation class, Teacher Tian Tian said that if you want to quickly realize the return on the short video platform, you must buy 3,000 yuan of accurate fans.
In this way, Zhao Qi paid 3,000 yuan one after another during the 2,580 yuan course, a total of eight transactions, totaling 14,840 yuan. After that, Teacher Tian Tian disappeared.
There are currently 427 victims in the rights protection group. According to the victim information sent by Du Hongyi to reporters, most of the deceived people are middle-aged and elderly, of which 118 are middle-aged between 40 and 50 years old, and 250 are over 50 years old. The youngest of the victims was 17 years old and the oldest was 80 years old. The amount of money deceived by each victim ranges from 2,580 yuan to 20,000 yuan.
Lin Hua, who is responsible for helping the victims in the group collect and sort out evidence, told reporters, "The live broadcast is fake, Wang Jing is fake, everything is fake."
According to the video of the course sent to reporters by the victims in the rights group, the victims who were deceived in August 2023 watched the same video as the victims who were deceived in December 2023. No matter how the temperature and seasons change in reality, the clothes worn by the keynote speaker, Ms. Wang Jing, are still the same.
The victims of the case are all over the country, because Sun Xueqiang, the legal representative of many companies involved in the "Yuanben School", is a native of Huangchuan County, Xinyang City, Henan Province, and is currently being handled by the Huangchuan County police.
The Huangchuan County police revealed to reporters that according to the local investigation in the past six months, tens of thousands of deceived people have been found across the country, and most of them are middle-aged and elderly people over 50 years old, and the amount of money involved in the case has been hundreds of millions of yuan. Criminal coercive measures have been taken against those responsible in the relevant cases.
On April 17, the reporter called the Huangchuan County Procuratorate to inquire about the progress of the case, and the other party said that the case was called the "Sun Xueqiang case", "the case was reported for arrest once in the early stage, and then returned to the public security. ”
Receipts of multiple students. Photo courtesy of the interviewee
"Protecting the Internet for the Elderly"
Similar cases of "fictitious traffic monetization cases, which eventually induce users to purchase high-value packages" are not uncommon across the country.
Shanghai Fengxian police revealed to the Beijing News reporter that in February this year, they received a report from Aunt Zhou, a resident of the jurisdiction, saying that in October last year, they saw someone selling courses in the live broadcast room of a certain platform, claiming that they could operate a store on the short video platform after learning, and easily earn more than 10,000 yuan a month, and promised to package and push a large number of fans after purchasing the course.
According to the investigation by the Fengxian Police in Shanghai, from April 2023, the "Yanjun Technology Co., Ltd." operated by Lu and others will publish false advertisements on the Internet platform of "Editing courses for the elderly, no threshold, and 0 yuan learning", using gimmicks such as 0 yuan learning and editing courses, pushing accurate shopping fans, and short videos to earn high profits to attract the attention of middle-aged and elderly people.
At the same time, the gang also conducts live broadcasts on short video platforms every week, creating false high-income prospects by displaying screenshots of false earnings and inviting people to tell fake success stories on the spot, so as to attract victims to buy so-called training courses.
The Fengxian police believe that these so-called training courses are not systematic at all and have no learning value. The so-called package increase in fans is only the zombie fans purchased by the company, and it will not generate purchase volume at all. At present, all 20 suspects of the gang have been taken criminal coercive measures by the Fengxian police in accordance with the law, and the case is being further investigated.
In the reporter's interview, a number of victims said that they swiped the advertisement on an information flow platform, and the reporter called the platform, which said, "Yijia Online will promote it on the platform in June 2023, and its promotion qualifications and advertising materials comply with relevant national laws and regulations." In December 2023, the platform received a complaint that the merchant was suspected of fraud in offline services, and after verification, the platform has banned 'Yijia Online' offline, and at the same time blackened its qualifications and permanently stopped cooperating. ”
The information flow platform also told reporters that at present, the platform has further strengthened the reminders and warnings for users, and will remind users to pay attention to the authenticity and reliability of the advertising content through prominent security signs and prompts on the advertising interface. The platform also suggests that the deceived party can actively collect evidence to complain to the platform, and the platform will verify and deal with it as soon as possible.
The relevant staff of another platform said that after inquiry, the advertiser has been removed by the platform in September 2023 for fraud. On the platform, regarding education and training advertisements, the platform said that it has adopted strict advertising standards, "in terms of qualifications, it is clearly required that the business scope of the business license must include education and training, and stipulates that the advertising materials shall not involve false descriptions such as ensuring the effectiveness of products and services, such as 'teaching and teaching, becoming a god in ten days, and a salary of more than one million'." If there is a consumer dispute caused by the diversion of traffic to a third party through advertising, the platform will further verify and take measures such as restricting or even removing the violating advertiser. ”
Zhu Wei, deputy director of the Communication Law Research Center of China University of Political Science and Law and member of the Expert Committee of the China Consumers Association, believes that under today's information society, the elderly are relatively backward in the acquisition and use of information and network technology compared with young people, resulting in an information gap.
At the same time, "older people feel social and economic pressures as they get older. On the other hand, in the era of silver economy, the elderly also want to obtain economic dividends from technological development. On the surface, the elderly learn to make short videos because they have the desire to express themselves, but in fact, they want to be able to participate in the dividends of the Internet. ”
Zhu Wei believes that the platform needs to strengthen credit management for such courses for the elderly, increase the recommendation of high-quality content by algorithms, and increase the development of age-friendly applications. But at the same time, he stressed that it is not for the platform to cut out all the courses that help the elderly to access the Internet, but to hope that the platform can pass the screening and verification, and finally provide more high-quality courses for the elderly on the short video platform to escort the elderly to contact the Internet.
After being deceived, Du Hongyi was determined to teach herself video editing and expose the "Yuanben School", for which she searched for some teaching videos uploaded by self-media anchors on the video website, "They all speak well, and they are still free." She said.
After that, she relied on the editing skills she learned to cut 3 videos about "Yuanben School Fraud" and posted them on her short video platform account. The three videos garnered a total of 106 likes and attracted victims who had similar experiences to her for help.
Since the creation of the "Yuanben School Victim Rights Protection Group", Du Hongyi's retirement life has become busy. Her wife persuaded her to stop worrying about those things, and her daughter also advised her to stop thinking about the 2,580 yuan she was cheated of, but Du Hongyi couldn't do it.
"At first, I thought, isn't 2,580 yuan a month's pension, but then there are more and more people in the rights protection group, and I think I must let the scammers be punished." According to this reporter's understanding, the main suspects involved in the case have all been controlled by the public security organs, and the case is being further handled.
(At the request of the interviewee, Du Hongyi, Wang Guiyun, Hu Xiaoying, Zhao Qi, and Lin Hua have been pseudonyms in the article)