By chance, Wei Yi's family discovered that the express boxes filled with father-in-law's room were all "antiques" purchased by the old man.
Wei Yi’s father-in-law is 70 years old and a retired teacher. Starting in November 2023, he became addicted to selling “antiques” through live video broadcasts. In five months, the old man spent a total of more than 60,000 yuan on "antiques." Wei Yi searched for experts for appraisal, only to discover that these "antiques" purchased from the live broadcast room were actually modern handicrafts and could not increase in value as many times as the anchor said in his sales promotion.
A reporter from the Beijing News found that in live broadcast rooms that sell "antiques", the anchors will sell them through plot interpretations, and claim that as long as they buy this "collection", it will appreciate several times in value and be recycled at a high price. However, Specific information about “collections” is often not presented in detail.
And "recycling" is also a new wave of harvest. On the evening of July 8, an account selling "fake antiques" took the initiative to send a private message to a reporter, claiming that as long as you transfer 2,490 yuan, someone will come to sign a contract and collect any "collection" at a high price. "In two days, someone will come to your house to collect it." Some victims said that no one would actually come to collect the money and that this was another amount of money they had been defrauded of.
On social platforms, it is not uncommon to see live broadcast rooms that specialize in selling “antiques” and harvest middle-aged and elderly people. In May of this year, media reported that the Shenyang Kangping County Public Security Bureau had dismantled a criminal gang that used online live broadcasts to sell fake antiques to commit fraud. In the same month, the WeChat public account "Jiaxing Public Security" also posted that the Jiaxing Municipal Public Security Bureau was investigating a scam involving the sale of rough jade stones in a live broadcast room. An "Aunt Hong" fell into the trap and purchased 43 "raw stones" one after another.
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 the behavior of these stores has involved false propaganda and is a fraud. It has also touched the bottom line of network content security and is not conducive to the live broadcast economy. A virtuous cycle.
The old man listened to the sales promotion of the live broadcast room and believed that the "collections" he bought would one day be recycled, thus achieving added value. Photo provided by the interviewee
The "heirloom" is a fake antique
In April this year, Wei Yi discovered that her father-in-law had day and night reversed, and he was always not in good spirits during the day. After questioning, I learned that he was deeply involved in the "recycling of antiques at high prices" routine.
The old man invested all his savings and borrowed money from relatives and friends to buy it. For this reason, the whole family went to the battle to dissuade them and tried various methods, but the old man still refused to stop. He believed the sales promotion in the live broadcast room and believed that the "collections" he bought would one day be recycled and increase in value. The eldest son was so angry that he wanted to smash these "fake antiques", while the younger daughter accused Wei Yi and his family of failing to take good care of the elderly.
"My children said it was fake, but the old man didn't believe it. Experts said it was fake, so maybe they could convince him." In order to end the quarrel at home, Wei Yi decided to take her father-in-law to appraise the treasure.
She first sent a private message to a member of the Shaanxi Jewelry and Jade Industry Association on the Douyin platform, asking him to help identify it during the live broadcast. She also contacted many treasure appraisal bloggers, and the statements she received were all "fake." The Youjianbao blogger advised the elderly, "Don't spend your pension money on these fakes."
But Wei Yi's father-in-law still refused to believe it. On May 17, the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Museum held a public service event for the identification of folk collections of cultural relics. After Wei Yi learned the news, she immediately took her father-in-law to the scene. After joint appraisal by four experts from the museum, these "collections" of my father-in-law were all modern handicrafts, and the calligraphy and paintings taken were even computer-printed. At this time, the old man finally believed that these were not antiques, but he still firmly believed that these things had room for appreciation and would be recycled at a high price one day in the future.
What happened to Wei Yi’s father-in-law is not an isolated case. A reporter from the Beijing News searched the Black Cat Complaint Platform using the keyword "live broadcast room antiques" and found 32 related cases. These complaints began in 2022, and the amount involved ranged from a thousand to ten thousand yuan. Most of these consumers believed the hints of the live broadcast room that they had huge collection appreciation value. In the end, short video platforms intervened to negotiate and resolve.
In May 2024, the WeChat public account "Jiaxing Public Security" posted that "Aunt Hong" from Xiuzhou not long ago visited a live broadcast room selling ornaments, and later began to sell jadeite rough stones for 5,000 yuan a piece. The anchor said that after purchasing, there would be The "Prince of Myanmar" came to buy it, with bids ranging from 800,000 yuan to 2 million yuan. For this reason, Aunt Hong bought 43 rough stones in the live broadcast room.
In the same month, media reported that the Shenyang Kangping County Public Security Bureau busted a criminal gang. The gang sold fake handicrafts in the live broadcast room by portraying the image of a charity-loving boss, and even fabricated a scam that "overseas antiques need the help of fans to take them home." , the gang is currently under criminal detention on suspicion of fraud.
The "fake antiques" purchased by Wei Yi's father-in-law in the live broadcast room. Picture provided by the interviewee
Selling while performing, harvesting the elderly
"Why is it our turn to be auctioned this time? This is God's will!" In the video, the anchor showed jade ornaments while asking "parents" Promotion, "Because we have to find 108 suffering people and help them escape from their suffering. We are inviting the God of Wealth. Do you want to sell off the collection in your hands after the invitation? Just now a painting was sold for 800,000, and a rough stone was sold More than two million."
Chen Fei's mother is 60 years old. Since last year, some of the accounts she follows have been selling goods live in this kind of plot interpretation. Sometimes anchors claim that the "collectibles" sold are used by the original owners to pay off debts, including jade, coins, bronzes, silver ornaments, wine, cinnabar, etc., with prices ranging from tens to thousands of yuan. The anchor said that these "collections" have a high potential for appreciation, and fans are asked to buy them for temporary storage. Later, they will go to various exhibition tours and come to fans to recycle them at high prices.
Chen Fei's mother thought that the "antiques" would be recycled at a high price later, which would relieve her daughter of some mortgage pressure, so she bought tens of thousands of "collections" piecemeal in the live broadcast room.
Wei Yi said that this is the special rhetoric used to sell "fake antiques". Some anchors will also create images such as wealthy daughters and heirs of intangible cultural heritage, saying that they have no place to put their "collections" and hope that the uncles and aunts in the live broadcast room can help protect the "antiques" and later recycle them at a price that is 20% higher than the market price. Or participate in offline auctions and sell your collections at high prices. In addition, you can also put it in a museum to collect rent, with a daily rent of several hundred yuan or more than a thousand yuan. In the video provided by Wei Yi, the anchor said when introducing the collection: "With this, how many people in your family can lie down completely for the rest of their lives."
In order to justify themselves, some anchors will also post it at auctions and trade fairs. video. The anchor with the account "Zhang Lv Zi Qiang Qiang" posted a video of a conversation with foreigners in a luxury car. Several people in suits and ties were sitting around for a meeting. The host was holding a document with the "International Yibao Exhibition Center" project written on it. document, and stated that "when this project is completed, everyone will get a share of the pie." "The role of this center is to allow uncles and aunts to quickly get what they want." However, the Beijing News reporter did not find it through public channels. to relevant content at the above exhibition centres.
Another anchor "Er Niu. Forge ahead (Assistant)" released a number of exhibition tour videos, showing the process of identifying the collections of "old ticket gold bricks and gold cards" and "civilian and military gods of wealth", and claimed that " Directly increase the value by 50, and the final bid is successful." But as to whether it is 500,000 or 50%, there is no explanation in the video.
In the comments of this video, many people commented calling him a liar and demanding a refund, saying that they never heard from him again after buying something. Under another video that said "If you have collections that need to be sold, hurry up and contact me to sign up", many users directly posted the "collections" they purchased in the comments.
In order to retain the audience in the live broadcast room, the anchor will also put on the shelves some "welfare products" from time to time, "more than ten yuan or twenty yuan" to attract a group of people to stay and enhance the atmosphere. Combined with the recycling of collections, it can be sold for several million or more. "Thousands of words, the old man believed it over time." Wei Yi said that her father-in-law believed in this theory and wanted to leave a family heirloom to his children.
In order to better harvest the elderly, "moms and dads" has become the catchphrase of such anchors. Chen Fei said that the anchors will also add the elderly's WeChat accounts, pretending to care about the elderly, but encouraging them not to listen to their children.
A "sky-high price collection" that does not exist
A reporter from the Beijing News found that since the end of June, there are still live broadcast rooms selling "antiques" on short video platforms. After being exposed by the media, the anchors were more cautious when bringing goods. They rarely directly claimed that they were selling antiques, but repeatedly emphasized their exquisiteness and recycling value.
html On the evening of July 9th, the anchor of the video account "Tianlong Yuci No. 5" was bringing goods. In addition to showing the "treasures", he also took out his mobile phone to display the auction information of Poly Company, claiming that the goods auctioned at high prices that year were sold here for thousands. You can buy it for 10,000 yuan or 10,000 yuan. At around 22:00, the anchor showed off a purple-glazed relief gilt blessing tube. The porcelain is violet in color and its surface is engraved with octagonal floral patterns. The anchor said that this item shows the pinnacle of carving art. If you make one mistake during carving, the entire porcelain will be scrapped. Currently, this is the only one that is intact in the world. The maker spent eight years designing and firing this "heavy weapon". The anchorclaimed that this purple-glazed Futong Zun sold for a sky-high price of 1.5 billion on March 18, 2014. "This rare collection, 9999 will give you the link today!" When the reporter asked if there was room for appreciation, the anchor did not answer directly, only hinting that there was. When the reporter asked about the age and other issues, the anchor said, "I can't say here. You all know what age you are, or you can buy it and take it back to see. There is a seven-day appreciation period. You can see what age it is after you buy it."
anchor showed a A purple-glazed relief gilt blessing tube. The porcelain is violet in color and its surface is engraved with octagonal floral patterns. Screenshot of the live broadcast
A reporter from the Beijing News checked the official website of the auction company and found that among all the cultural relics auctioned by the company in 2014, the porcelain sold during the live broadcast did not exist. There is no inquiry that the company held an auction on March 18, 2014. In addition, the company issued a statement on September 17, 2022, saying, "Recently, our company has discovered that some personal accounts on video platforms and WeChat personal accounts have been counterfeiting and misappropriating the 'Poly' font name through Moments and WeChat groups to publish relevant company auctions. , solicitation", the statement mentioned that activities, itineraries, advertisements and contact information that have not been released by official public accounts or official websites have no reference value and will not be recognized.
reporter checked the corporate WeChat information of the customer service of the store in the live broadcast room and found that the customer service belongs to "Changnan New District Peilei Department Store (Individual Industrial and Commercial Household)", with an address in Jingdezhen, and its business scope is "tea set sales, daily ceramic products sales, new ceramics "Material sales", etc., does not involve the sale and operation of cultural relics and antiques.
html On the afternoon of June 29, there were 909 viewers in the live broadcast room of the video account "Gaoshanliushui". The anchor was selling a golden Buddha with a price of 2,970 yuan. He introduced on the details page that it was "an art craft, not gold", but during the live broadcast But he didn't mention it a word, but kept hinting that it could appreciate in value. When reporters asked via private message, customer service said they wanted to listen to the anchor's explanation. In thecomment area, someone said that the anchor is a liar. After seeing it, the anchor said: "Don't listen to the slander. The harm you are doing to me now is to make all my uncles and aunts enemies. You can hurt me, but I ask you not to It’s causing trouble to my uncles and aunts.”
According to the Beijing News reporter’s observation, these anchors often have multiple accounts with similar names, and they often broadcast simultaneously, but there is no company name behind the account, and they all use live broadcast room shopping and WeChat. , payment in the form of Alipay transfer. After
received the goods, there was no news from the anchors. If "parents" ask about high-price recycling, the anchors will ask for another fee. Some victims said that this was another amount of money that was defrauded. This is how Jiang Mi's mother was defrauded out of 4,800 yuan. He said that a person who called himself "President Chen" formed a WeChat group and collected money in the group, saying that in this way, people would come to collect the "collections" at a high price. However, when the collection was completed, the group was immediately disbanded, and no one came to collect the "collection"."President Chen" also used private messages to ask the elderly to delete their chat history on the grounds that there were bad people in the group causing sabotage.
html On the evening of July 8, the anchor named "Zhang Lu Ziqiang" took the initiative to send a private message to the reporter, claiming that his live broadcast room had no antiques, and now he would pay him 2,490 yuan. "Two days later, someone will come to buy the collection you bought before at a high price." , and sign the contract." The payment method for this money is WeChat transfer or Alipay. No voucher is provided. Someone will come to sign the contract after the money is paid. In order to prove his identity, he also transferred an ID card photo, but the quality of the picture was blurry and the name was "Zhang Lu". However, through his transfer information, it could be seen that the last character of the account number was "Hua", which he explained was Company account number, but he did not specify what company it was.He refused to talk about the collections that could increase in value. He only said: "You can make money by buying this, and one can earn at least hundreds of thousands."
Two anchors privately messaged reporters from the Beijing News to sign up for high-price recycling activities for old objects. Screenshot of chat
It is difficult for victims to return goods and protect their rights
In May of this year, the merchant still used the recycling value of the museum as bait to persuade Wei Yi who wanted to return the goods, "I mean you can return part of it first and keep the rest." Said, "Mr. Qin's Qingdao Museum has been completed, so this (recycling) quota is really gone."
Wei Yi insisted on refunding, but the orders basically exceeded the after-sales return time, so she could only make one payment at a time according to the order. Bindi sent a private message to the merchant requesting that the return and refund channels be opened. Some stores agree to return part of the collection but refuse to return all items for refund, while others require a handling fee ranging from 10 to 20 yuan to be deducted for each refund. In order to recover the money as soon as possible, Wei Yi could only compromise, "When I was refunding the money, I found that many stores had already run away. I was afraid that I would not be able to recover the money if I delayed it."
Most of the collections sent by merchants were not accurate, Wei Yi said. Yide checked the collections purchased and received one by one. "My father-in-law bought too much. He couldn't remember the time and style. He had to take photos of the collection and send them to customer service, and ask customer service for help to confirm." Some collections finally matched the number, but the packaging was gone and the courier I was worried that the collection would be broken during the journey, so I had another round of communication. During the month when Wei Yi defended her rights, she spent her off-duty hours dealing with customer service and sending express packages.
Some merchants have disappeared, or the account names have been changed several times and are difficult to identify. Wei Yi can only complain to the platform customer service. Complaints require evidence, so Wei Yi put all the vouchers on the platform and quickly sent the express back after the platform reviewed and approved it.
Due to the difficulty of safeguarding rights, Wei Yi, Chen Fei and others joined a WeChat group called "E-commerce Rights Protection". There are already 112 people in this group, mostly composed of family members of elderly people who have been defrauded. Whenever an account selling "antiques" is launched, the group will remind each other, record screens and leave certificates, and they will also exchange and discuss their rights protection experiences. In the
rights protection group, Liu Yang’s father purchased the largest amount of collections, reaching 1.13 million. Since the after-sales deadline had been missed, Liu Yang did not receive a reply when he sent a private message to the store in the live broadcast room. He went to the official platform to continue complaining, and also went to the 12315 complaint platform to complain to these merchants. As of July 3, Liu Yang had recovered almost one million yuan. Most of the remaining orders involve stores that have disappeared.
There are also many people who have not been able to successfully refund their money. When Chen Fei sent a private message to the live broadcast assistant asking for a return or refund, the other party refused for various reasons such as lack of authority or the customer service did not have the authority to handle it. They can only continue to complain on the platform and hope that the problem will be solved.
The store disappeared and the order cannot be returned. Photo provided by the interviewee
“The live streaming industry needs to be legalized and standardized”
At the beginning of her rights protection, Liu Yang did not call the police. She learned from the rights protection group that some family members called the police, but the police believed it was a transaction dispute. In this regard, Xie Haitao, a lawyer at Shanghai Bohe Hanshang Law Firm, said that if sufficient evidence can be submitted to the police to prove that there is false propaganda in the live broadcast room or the use of high-price recycling tactics to induce consumers to buy, it can constitute a fraud charge.
Xie Haitao said that if the seller advertises it as an antique, but it is actually an ordinary handicraft, regardless of whether it promises to repurchase it, it has constituted a crime of fraud. Packaging the handicraft as an antique has investment and collection value, making the buyer mistakenly think that what he bought is an antique, and then To complete the payment, this is to fabricate facts to hide the truth, making others mistakenly believe that it is true, and then delivering the property. This is a typical fraud. "Even if the product is not advertised as an antique, but it is promised to repurchase the product without ever repurchasing it or setting up various obstacles to prevent the repurchase, it also constitutes a crime of fraud."
However, the reporter found that during the actual sales process, these live broadcast rooms The anchors often tell the elderly that "collections" cannot be opened, saying that the value will be greatly reduced after opening. Liu Yang's father basically did not open the collection after receiving it in the mail, which makes consumers unable to understand the "collection". collection” for inspection and valuation.
"The defrauded elderly people and their families should unite and call the police." Xie Haitao suggested to safeguard their legitimate rights and interests. He said that if the platform is clearly aware of the illegal activities of the relevant stores, or has received relevant complaints but does not handle them, then the platform will also bear part of the joint and several liability.
A Beijing News reporter searched the Judgment Documents Network using the keywords "live broadcast room" and "antique" and found that a judgment issued by the People's Court of Raoyang County, Hebei Province showed that in early 2019, Hao Moumou conducted live broadcast sales through a short video platform. Counterfeit silver coins, and add the buyer as a WeChat friend in the live broadcast room through WeChat, and then show the new craft counterfeit purchased from the antique market as a real silver dollar to the other party, and sell it to the other party at a price lower than the market price, defrauding a total of more than 29,000 yuan. . On June 30, 2020, the defendant Hao Moumou was convicted of fraud, sentenced to one year and ten months in prison, and fined RMB 25,000.
In March 2021, the People's Court of Pianguan County, Shanxi Province also ruled on a fraud case. On March 28, 2020, two defendants claimed in the live broadcast room and WeChat chat that their antiques were Spring and Autumn Periods for the purpose of illegal possession. Period old goods, fidelity. Selling "antiques" such as bronze mirrors, wood carvings, jade pots, and copper coins, the amount of money defrauded was 18,270 yuan. After appraisal by the Shanxi Provincial Museum, the above items are all non-cultural relics.
Liu Yang said in an interview that he believed that poor platform supervision was an important reason why his father purchased a large number of "collections".
Zhu Wei pointed out that the live broadcast room should bear the main responsibility for this type of fraud. Even if the live broadcast room sells real antiques, the transactions involved may be criminalized as illegal business or reselling cultural relics. However, the platform also needs to bear legal responsibility in the following situations: first, the platform knew or should have known that these live broadcast rooms might infringe on consumer rights, but still did not take measures; second, the store sold fake goods, and the platform was unable to provide The real identity information of the live broadcast operator who sells fake goods should bear joint liability at this time; thirdly, if the live broadcast room buys traffic during the live broadcast, the platform may bear the responsibility of the advertising operator.
html On July 10, a reporter from the Beijing News submitted a report and complaint against the above-mentioned account on the relevant short video platform. The platform responded, "The platform has received your complaint and will complete the review as soon as possible. If there is indeed a violation of your report, will be passed.”After Jiang Mi complained to the platform, the platform found that the live broadcast was indeed in violation and the merchant’s deposit account still had balance, so it quickly opened the return and refund channel, but for those who had long since disappeared and whose deposit account had been For empty merchants, the platform has no better solution, which has also caused some rights defenders to worry about the safety of shopping in the live broadcast room.
Zhu Wei believes that the live broadcast industry has now surpassed the barbaric growth in the early stage and needs to enter a new stage with legalization and standardization as the core. Especially in the field of protecting consumer rights and interests, there is still a long way to go to regulate live streaming.
"Platform live broadcasts should establish a hierarchical and classified management mechanism." Zhu Wei suggested that the grading can be divided according to the sales qualifications and credit levels of the live broadcast rooms, and a blacklist ban system should be implemented. There are already platforms building this mechanism. Secondly, online and offline needs to be managed in a unified manner. If something goes wrong online, not only will the account be banned, but the person must also be found offline and bear the legal responsibilities they should bear.The third step is classified management. For example, the sales of health products and antiques have special regulations, and they should be included in their subdivisions and strictly supervised.
At present, many elderly people actively participate in the consumption of new forms of Internet economy, and society continues to call for more elderly-friendly services in network construction. In this context, Zhu Wei pointed out that in order to prevent the elderly from falling into rights disputes, platforms should Take more responsibilities, especially in areas that require strict supervision such as health care products and entertainment. We should proactively issue reminders to elderly users and strengthen qualification supervision and content screening.
(Except Zhu Wei and Xie Haitao, all others are pseudonyms)
Beijing News reporter Wang Chang intern Huang Xinyue
editor Chen Xiaoshu
proofreader Li Lijun
