Some businesses want to rely on the "Buyer show" to attract more people to buy, thus deriving the business of producing the content. However, this has been used by some platforms to deceive users: create the illusion that they can easily make money by collecting express, taking photos and uploading in their spare time, tempt them to download apps and register, and then require members of different levels to pay fees, causing users to suffer losses.
When consumers shop, the use experience from other consumers is often an important reference. To this end, each major e-commerce platform has set up corresponding "Buyer show", "grass show" and other content sections to guide consumers to release comprehensive, rich and detailed evaluations.
However, the evaluation section, originally intended to promote a fairer consumption environment, is regarded by some businesses as a channel to attract public traffic, thus giving birth to a gray business engaged in the production, release and upload of "Buyer show" content, and even used by criminals for online fraud.
Apply for a part-time job and fall into the trap of membership fee
During a short video clip, Ms. Li was attracted by a part-time advertisement. The text of the video is marked with "recruitment of models, high salary positions, high salary Recruitment", which means that you only need to take a few good-looking photos after receiving the clothes, and then publish favorable comments with photos and videos to the corresponding goods, so that you can get the goods for free, or earn another commission. With a try attitude, Ms. Li clicked the registration link at the bottom of the video according to the video guide, and left her own phone number.
Subsequently, a person who claimed to be a staff member of the platform added Ms. Li's wechat and asked her to download an app and register, and receive orders through the platform software.
Ms. Li browsed through the staff member's circle of friends and found that she released a large number of auction posts every day waiting for orders, and each order could provide a commission of 40 yuan to 200 yuan.
However, when Ms. Li asked how to receive the order, the staff member said that the training fee of 298 yuan should be paid first, and then the platform sent someone to conduct online training to teach how to receive the order, write comments, take photos and other matters needing attention. In order to make Ms. Li make up her mind as soon as possible, the staff member also sent many "peer" order receiving cases and revenue amount to publicize that the platform will be rich in order to easily repay the training fee.
Ms. Li paid the training fee and passed the training quickly. Just when she thought she could take orders to make money, she found that all she could choose were small orders with a few yuan of commission, such as daily necessities, stationery and small toys. If she wanted to get large orders for clothing, she needed to pay a higher level of membership fee.
"I won't disclose this in the early publicity. I just tell you that you can make money by taking orders, but I didn't expect that there is a threshold. I basically need to pay for sending orders in advance." Because she didn't want to invest more money, Ms. Li, who only received a small order, managed to earn back 50 yuan in two weeks. She suspected that the so-called sending photos was a scam to get membership fees.
Coincidentally, some consumers reported, and some auction platforms let the victims pay in advance in the name of rebate withdrawal, and then continued to guide the victims to invest in funds on the grounds of improper operation and withdrawal failure. However, it still showed that the task was not completed or the withdrawal failed, resulting in the victim being cheated of more than 30000 yuan.
According to the 2022 Tiktok anti fraud report released by Tiktok recently, once users get in touch with them, they will be asked to download the third-party billing software, and then be induced to pay a "deposit", and finally be cheated.
Charge at both ends of the auction platform
The evaluation content released by the part-time staff will eventually be presented as the consumer evaluation of major e-commerce platforms. Some of the evaluation may be selected by the seller and displayed in the "Buyer show" and other sections.
The reporter called an e-commerce platform, and the staff replied that the "Buyer show" includes the buyer's graphic evaluation, business topics, good thing experience, etc. after selection by the business, it can be released by itself, and can be refined, topped and other operations. Consumers can see the display of this content in the commodity drop-down page. At the same time, the other party said that the platform could not screen out false evaluations for the "Buyer show" at present, and could only check the abnormal positive data in a short time.
Cuilili, executive director of E-commerce Research Institute of Shanghai University of Finance and economics, analyzed that "Buyer show" is a voluntary and spontaneous sharing behavior of buyers after shopping, which has a certain drainage effect. Some businesses want to rely on the "Buyer show" to attract more people to buy, thus deriving the business of producing the content.
However, these seem to be auction sending platforms that provide store content optimization services for sellers. In addition to charging part-time workers, they also charge sellers accordingly. According to a "Buyer show" online auction platform, there are two kinds of auction orders: free auction orders and return orders. Among them, the Seller shall provide the goods to the model, and pay a commission of 48 yuan and freight. The goods will be sent back after the auction task is completed. The free auction list means that the model can leave the goods without sending them back after completing the appointment. At the same time, platform V1 level merchants also need to pay a commission of 10 yuan per order. After recharging 600 yuan to V3 level, the commission paid per order will drop to 6 yuan.
It should be noted that in this process, the merchant cannot directly conduct single line transactions with the auction model, but must issue the auction order on the platform and pay the Commission, commodity refund and advance payment, service fee, etc. in the form of recharge.
Cuilili believes that the commercialization behavior will affect the objective position of the "Buyer show", thus affecting the normal judgment of consumers, hindering the orderly development of the market, and especially having a negative impact on the online e-commerce industry. Businesses will pay more attention to opportunistic marketing, and may ultimately let consumers pay the bill.
Multi prompt anti fraud
The reporter saw from the social accounts of several models who sent photos that the content they released had a unified script, and they swiped the screen to answer the content on a number of related topics. These account subjects are often packaged as college students and treasure mothers who have earned a fixed income by taking part-time photos, and create the illusion that they can easily make money by receiving express, taking photos and uploading them in their spare time.
At the same time, "the operation of the platform must be cost-effective", "the free admission is basically deceptive or there is no single connection", "all regular platforms require membership fees" and other contents have been repeatedly emphasized, inculcating the idea that "the transaction fee is taken for granted" to the people who want to work part-time.
After the fraud on the sending and shooting platform was exposed, the short video platform also provided targeted reminders for relevant keywords and contents. The reporter searched for "sending photos" in Tiktok and found that "caution is required for online part-time jobs" and other prompt words will appear on the platform.
According to the 2022 anti fraud report released by Tiktok, this year the platform has banned 1192 advertising accounts and intercepted more than 430000 fraud related advertisements.
The police remind that the "sending models" scam is actually an upgraded version of the "part-time bill swiping" scam. While the victim is waiting for the clothes to be delivered, the swindler will induce the victim to brush the bill in a small amount and make a quick rebate to gain the victim's further trust. Finally, the swindler will ask the victim to swipe the bill repeatedly for the final fraud.
Cuilili said that when consumers buy goods, the "Buyer show" can only be used as a reference. Consumers who have purchased products should objectively reflect their true feelings when releasing the "Buyer show" and do not provide false information because of rebate behaviors such as cash and coupons, which will not only damage the rights and interests of other consumers, but also have a negative impact on their personal reputation. In serious cases, they should bear corresponding legal responsibilities.