Not long ago, Xinhua News Agency's "Xinhua Viewpoint" column broadcast "Often receive text messages about "points expiration redemption"? Beware of "fraud", revealing that some merchants send text messages to mobile phone users, saying that they have large points that are about to expire, and induce users to use points and cash to redeem** or inferior goods.
After the article was published, China Telecom sent a text message to remind users: "Some unscrupulous merchants use the gimmick of redeeming points as soon as possible to defraud, resulting in damage to consumer rights and interests." Please pay attention to the verification information**, please log in to the official address of each platform for point redemption to avoid being deceived. ”
Recently, the "Xinhua Vision" reporter tracked and found that there are still consumers who receive similar "points expiration redemption" text messages from time to time. Why does this chaos continue to be banned?
There are still consumers who report that the points are redeemed for inferior products.
Mr. Feng, a consumer in Henan, said that he received a text message a few days ago, "saying that I have more than 30,000 points that will expire the next day, and provided a redemption link, signed 'Service Notice'." Mr. Feng mistakenly thought it was a reminder from a mobile operator, and then clicked on the link and bought a "genius M6 smart ** watch" worth 799 yuan for his child with cash plus 7300 points. After receiving it, it was found that the watch was poorly made, and it ran out of power within two hours, and it could not be returned.
In January 2024, the platform of Lichuang Technology*** is still selling this product.
The reporter saw that the sticker on the back of the watch purchased by Mr. Feng had the name of the manufacturer, but the product trademark and specific production address were not seen. After investigation, the Guchuang excellent product points that sell the watch are operated by Shenzhen Lichuang Technology, and the company's registered capital is 1 million yuan.
Mr. Wang, a consumer in Beijing, bought six bottles of "Penfolds Binzhi Pin407 Dry Red Wine" with 429 yuan and 29,000 points on the points exchange platform. The reporter found that the red wine purchased by Mr. Wang is highly similar to a well-known Australian brand red wine on the market that costs more than 500 yuan per bottle, and is highly similar in terms of packaging style and font design, which is easy to confuse.
Some consumers reported that they bought a product with a package and a product name very similar to "SK-II" with points and cash, and found that it was a copycat product called "SKINII" after receiving it.
The relevant person in charge of the Sina Black Cat complaint platform said that in the fourth quarter of 2023, the number of complaints related to integral text messages on the Black Cat complaint platform increased by more than 77% compared with the previous quarter.
How are illegal text messages done?
The sending number of the illegal points SMS generally starts with "106". The reporter searched on the Internet with "106 SMS" as the keyword and found that many businesses released SMS "business" advertisements starting with "106", which mostly took "high arrival rate, high conversion rate, and three networks not blocked" as the slogan.
In January 2024, netizens received a text message for points redemption.
The reporter asked a platform in Shanghai that claimed to be able to start with "106" and learned that the platform provides self-service operation accounts and text messages for individual and corporate users, charging 400 yuan per 10,000.
The reporter bought the platform's "106" text message** as the owner of the cosmetics ** store, and was told that he could add a shopping ** or **link to the text message. The staff of the platform reminded that the content of the text message needs to be manually reviewed by the platform, and some obviously illegal content is not allowed to be sent.
When the reporter asked if it was possible to send a text message containing the words "points exchange", the staff member said that the regular text message platform does not allow this kind of text message. However, after negotiation, after removing the specific amount of points, the SMS platform still sent a reminder text message for points redemption.
Another ** SMS platform told reporters that they have no obligation to review and supervise user behavior, and all legal responsibilities incurred by users due to sending information are borne by users.
The Cybersecurity Law stipulates that electronic information transmission service providers shall perform security management obligations, and if they know that the electronic information sent by their users contains information that is prohibited from being published or transmitted by laws or administrative regulations, they shall stop providing services, take measures to eliminate or other disposition, keep relevant records, and report to the relevant competent departments. Qiu Weiqi, a teacher at the Arbitration Research Institute (Arbitration School) of Southwest University of Political Science and Law, said.
At the same time, Qiu Weiqi said that the Cybersecurity Law also stipulates that network operators should strengthen the management of information released by their users, and if they discover information that is prohibited by laws and administrative regulations from being published or transmitted, they should immediately stop transmitting the information, take measures such as eliminating it, prevent the spread of information, keep relevant records, and report to the relevant competent departments.
How can supervision be strengthened?
Counterfeit goods", "cheating money", "dragging and not returning" ......Many consumers reported that when they contacted these points exchange platforms, ** were empty or hung up, the customer service was a robot reply, and no one accepted the return or did not process it after acceptance.
The reporter investigated the industrial and commercial registration information of a number of such companies that were complained about, and found that most of the companies were registered from 2022 to 2023, and there was no record of abnormal operation and punishment.
Mr. Feng, a deceived consumer, said that after complaining to the market supervision department, he was told that he needed to submit "the complete and uninterrupted unpacking of the reported product** and a complete and clear picture of all aspects" within 3 days. As Mr. Fung was unable to provide the **, the complaint was treated as insufficient evidence.
Gu Wei, director of the Sixth Procuratorate Department of the People's Procuratorate of Taizhou City, Jiangsu Province, believes that in these cases, the outer packaging of the products sold by the merchants and the well-known goods are similar in color, font and other design elements, which is very easy for consumers to misjudge and be confusing, and is suspected of violating the relevant provisions of the Trademark Law and involving infringement of the exclusive right to use registered trademarks.
We believe that there are multiple illegal possibilities for such acts, involving administrative liability, civil liability, and may also involve criminal offenses of fraud. Gu Wei said that the procuratorate should pay close attention to such phenomena and promptly carry out public interest litigation supervision in accordance with the law for acts involving infringement of public interests.
Some operators said that consumers can report when they have doubts about the legitimacy of SMS, and the system will shut down if the monitored number is fraud**, harassment**, or spam SMS. However, it is understood that some consumers have submitted complaints to the operator, but 30 days have passed and no reply has been received.
Qiu Weiqi introduced that the Cybersecurity Law stipulates that network operators do not perform their obligations to dispose of illegal information, and electronic information sending service providers do not perform their security management obligations, and stipulate corresponding legal responsibilities such as ordering corrections, giving warnings, confiscating illegal gains, fines, ordering the suspension of relevant businesses, suspending business for rectification, closing down, revoking relevant business licenses or business licenses, and imposing fines on directly responsible managers and other directly responsible personnel.
Experts suggest that the market supervision department can work with the public security organs, network information departments, operators, etc. to establish a synchronization mechanism for illegal clues, share clues in a timely manner through cooperation, and coordinate and co-govern. (Xinhua News Agency reporters Zhai Xiang, Hu Linguo, Chen Xiyuan, Gao Kang, Wang Feng).