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“Is it normal that a product with over 1 million units sold only has a few hundred reviews?”

Xiao An from Shandong planned to buy an electronic weighing scale online. To save time, Xiao An directly selected "sort by sales" on the search page and selected a weighing scale with "sales of 1 million+" from the top links. But when she checked the product description, she found that the product had only 104 reviews. After exiting the link, she randomly clicked on another product link with sales of more than 1.02 million, and scrolled down to see that the product also had only 224 reviews.

"This is too different! Are the sales of this product real? Is the quality reliable?" Xiao An was very puzzled.

A recent investigation by a reporter from Legal Daily found that many consumers reported that on some online shopping platforms, the credibility of product sales, reviews, store ratings, and other important reference information for online shopping is questionable, and the situation of "water armies" posting good reviews and inflating sales is still widespread.

Experts interviewed believe that in order to gain an advantage in the fierce market competition, some businesses use unfair means to increase sales and favorable reviews of goods, mislead consumers, and thus increase their own trading opportunities. This phenomenon not only violates the principle of fair competition in the market, but also infringes on consumers' right to know and right to choose. We should promote the construction of a multi-governance regulatory structure, maintain a fair and competitive market environment, and protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers and businesses.

Fake shipment, empty package

There are many ways to fake sales

In March this year, Ms. Qian from Jilin bought a set of pajamas online. A few days later, the logistics information showed that the package had arrived at the post station, but she had not received the pickup information. Ms. Qian contacted the post station to inquire about the package pickup code, but the staff told her that there was a problem with the express number and her package was not in the post station. Ms. Qian had to check the express information with the merchant, and the other party replied that the courier had lost the package and asked Ms. Qian to apply for a refund.

"I have never encountered this situation before, and I believed the merchant when he said the item was lost." Ms. Qian said that after the refund, she placed another order for a set of pajamas, but a few days later she found that the logistics information was again delayed and abnormal. The seller replied to Ms. Qian that the courier was returned due to serious damage to the delivery note, and said that it would be re-delivered within 72 hours. At this time, Ms. Qian realized that it was not a coincidence that there were logistics problems in both purchases, so she complained to the platform about the seller. The platform customer service told Ms. Qian that the merchant had made a false shipment and "brushed the order", and the platform had imposed corresponding penalties and compensated Ms. Qian.

Ms. Shen from Shanxi also encountered the trick of merchants brushing orders. In May of this year, Ms. Shen received a message from a courier applet that she had a courier delivered to the post station. Strangely, although the recipient's phone number was Ms. Shen's, the delivery address was someone else's. Ms. Shen checked the shopping information and found that the package was not purchased by her. She guessed that someone else might have filled in the wrong mobile phone number. But in the following week, she received 7 similar courier messages one after another. Ms. Shen checked the logistics information and found that the express delivery was basically sent by e-commerce sellers, and the items included clothing, daily necessities, electronic products, etc. However, the packages Ms. Shen actually received were all worthless gadgets, and some were even empty packages.

Ms. Shen immediately contacted the express delivery outlets in the logistics information and asked the staff to intercept and refuse to accept the express parcels, but the staff said that the express in transit can only be intercepted by contacting the seller, but Ms. Shen could not view the seller’s contact information. Ms. Shen originally planned to wait for the express to be delivered to the post station before contacting the staff to refuse to accept it, but when she checked the logistics information again, she found that the express had been signed for. She immediately called the post station, and the other party told the merchant to contact the post station and ask them to sign for the express directly. The staff of the post station said that they had encountered this situation before, and they were all express deliveries by merchants who brushed orders. Most of these express deliveries are empty parcels or some cheap small things. Some recipients will contact the post station after receiving the receipt information like Ms. Shen, and many packages will be contacted by the merchant to sign for them as soon as they arrive at the post station, and the recipient may be completely unaware.

Reporters found that the sales figures shown by livestreaming may also be highly inflated. In order to gain traffic and popularity or induce consumers to make impulse purchases, some livestreaming rooms often fabricate the real-time sales and inventory of goods. Some even forge inflated sales figures through illegal means such as fake orders.

On August 9, the police issued a notice that the internet celebrity "Taiyuan Lao Ge" was accused of cheating merchants out of 9 million yuan and was filed for suspected fraud. A merchant claimed that "Taiyuan Lao Ge" brought goods for him 4 times and collected a total commission of 9 million yuan, but 19.11 million yuan of the sales were generated by fake orders. The records published by the merchant showed that a large number of orders showed "refund only" and "some buyers with the same ID would buy a large number of (products) separately in each live broadcast, and refunded them immediately after buying."

Zhu Wei, deputy director of the Communication Law Research Center of China University of Political Science and Law, said that the Anti-Unfair Competition Law and the Measures for the Supervision and Administration of Online Transactions clearly stipulate that it is not allowed to fabricate transaction volumes, and merchants falsify sales volume by means of fake orders and third-party agencies modifying data, which is a typical behavior of fabricating transaction volumes. Transaction volume may have a guiding effect on consumer behavior, infringe on consumer rights, and involve unfair competition. The falsification of data by anchors in live broadcasts may also infringe on the rights of e-commerce platforms and participating merchants, because the sales volume of live broadcasts is linked to commissions, and the ultimate purpose of anchors falsifying data is to make profits and mislead consumers.

Luan Yan, senior partner of Beijing Kangda Law Firm, mentioned that the act of brushing orders may constitute the crime of fraud, especially when the act of brushing orders is to defraud subsidies provided by the platform and the amount is large, according to Article 266 of the Criminal Law, criminal liability may be pursued.

All comments are in the same text

Cashback inducement with positive reviews

"I am very satisfied with the product, both the packaging and the quality." "The workmanship of this product is very fine, the material feels good, there is no peculiar smell, and it is very comfortable to use." "The exquisite packaging and high-end atmosphere show that the seller is very careful."...

Praising the packaging, workmanship, and materials, who would have thought that the product corresponding to these comments is a children's cold medicine. Recently, when Ms. Zhang, a Beijing resident, bought cold medicine for her child on an e-commerce platform, she found that the comment section was full of "irrelevant" comments. What made her even more suspicious of the authenticity of the comments was that the pictures of the top comments in the comment section were almost identical, but from different account IDs.

"Is it necessary to give fake reviews for a children's cold medicine, a prescription drug at that?" Ms. Zhang was speechless.

“Will I not be able to see real reviews when I buy things in the future?” Xiao Ma, a resident of Fuzhou, Fujian, had an unpleasant shopping experience because he was misled by the massive amount of “good reviews” in the comment section.

In February this year, Xiao Ma planned to turn the bay window at home into a reading corner and needed to customize a latex mat. After comparison, he chose a latex tatami mat with good sales and reviews from a factory store operated by a certain platform.

Xiao Ma said that he decided to place the order mainly because of the high sales volume of this product, which was more than 300,000. There were more than 60,000 product reviews, of which more than 30,000 were with pictures, and most of them were positive. "If you are not satisfied with the product, why would you take the time to take pictures and give reviews? There are mostly positive comments in the reviews with pictures, so the product quality should be reliable." With this idea in mind, Xiao Ma placed the order, but he didn't expect that the bay window mat he received was "overturned" - the mat was not only crudely made, but also had a strong smell, which was completely different from the pictures he saw in the buyer's comments.

He clicked on the product link again, intending to compare the bay window mat with the detailed pictures posted by other buyers. It was this review that made Xiao Ma notice that some of the comments had no substantive content, "it could be applied to any product, as if it was just for the sake of commenting". Many of the pictures posted in the comments were the same, even the people in the pictures were the same, and the picture quality was very blurry, "like a blurry picture that had been circulated several times".

During the interview, many consumers complained that the "good reviews seem to be fake" and "a lot of fake reviews" in the product review area. The reporter found that some merchants also attached the information of "cash back for good reviews" to the product packaging through small notes and cards, asking consumers to give good reviews with pictures, and then give consumers "rewards" ranging from 2 yuan to 5 yuan.

Mr. Zhang, a resident of Tianjin, once bought a wardrobe online that he had to assemble himself. When he opened the package, a "good review cashback card" fell out, which read "Good reviews with pictures will get cashback + V (implying adding a private chat method) to send a red envelope." As a result, when Mr. Zhang was assembling the wardrobe, he found that several wooden boards were uneven and some holes were crooked. After contacting customer service, the customer service said: "We can give you a small compensation, but you need to confirm receipt and give a good review first."

After thinking about it, Mr. Zhang compromised and gave the other party a good review with pictures. After that, the other party sent him a 10 yuan red envelope. "I feel that many people are like me. They may give good reviews with pictures for a few yuan even if they are not satisfied with the product. Now think about it, I placed the order because I thought it was reliable because of the many good reviews. These good reviews may mislead other consumers."

Luan Yan said that the E-commerce Law stipulates that e-commerce operators should disclose product or service information in a comprehensive, truthful, accurate and timely manner to protect consumers' right to know and right to choose. At the same time, they shall not make false or misleading commercial propaganda by fictitious transactions or fabricating user reviews to deceive or mislead consumers. Manipulating reviews, abusing reviews or using false reviews to mislead consumers in the comment area of ​​e-commerce platforms are all prohibited and may constitute illegal acts.

Doing fake orders in group chats

Recruiting people under the name of part-time job

Mr. Yang, who once opened an online store in Hangzhou, told reporters that many businesses would change sales in the early stages of opening a store or when launching new products, because consumers would be more inclined to buy from stores with higher sales at the same price. And those links to products with low sales will receive less traffic from online shopping platforms.

"There are many ways to increase sales. You can find someone who specializes in changing data to change sales directly or find someone to 'fake orders.'" Mr. Yang said that a relatively easy way is to ask a friend to use a common shopping account to take pictures of the goods in the store that need to increase sales, and adjust the purchase quantity to about 500 to 1,000. Because such abnormal orders cannot be shipped, the order price must be modified after the friend submits the order to avoid high compensation. If an ordinary user places an order without knowing it, it may become a tool for the merchant to swipe orders, and there is a high possibility of logistics anomalies, receiving empty packages, and other problems.

During the interview, Mr. Yang told the reporter frankly that he did ask someone to fake orders in the early days. "When I first started an online store, a friend who had run an online store for many years pulled me into a chat group. Merchants can find people in the group to help fake orders. You just need to tell them (the organizer of the fake orders) the store, link, and quantity, and they will find someone to help you fake enough orders. At first, an order was 2 to 3 yuan, then it became 5 yuan, and then slowly increased to more than 10 yuan."

Mr. Yang said that when the sales are inflated, after the person places an order, the merchant will usually send an empty package, or put some small items such as hairbands and candies in it to prevent the courier from returning the empty package. After arriving at the post station, the person can directly contact the post station to sign for it. "Many ordinary people have their information stolen without knowing it and become part of the order-inflating process, because after the courier arrives at the post station, the merchant can directly contact the post station to sign for it, and the order is inflated after signing for it. During the whole process, the recipient may not be able to receive the logistics information of the package."

"Merchants that inflate orders do not just inflate sales. Some merchants may also hire people to post fake reviews. The commission for this will be relatively high. Some merchants may even hire people to specifically post negative reviews for their competitors (i.e. intentionally give bad reviews)." said Mr. Yang.

The reporter found that "part-time job of brushing orders" information is very common in part-time job groups for college students and idle items resale groups, making some inexperienced students and housewives become participants in brushing orders without knowing it.

"She transferred a sum of money to me all at once, and I felt something was wrong so I returned it immediately." When Xiao Wu, who was studying at a university in Guangdong, was about to start his summer vacation, he saw someone in a part-time job group asking if he could take photos for a small amount of money. Xiao Wu contacted the other party to ask what he wanted to take photos for, and the other party said that he wanted to buy some clothes and jewelry but didn't want to be discovered by others. He also asked Xiao Wu if he could take photos for him for a long time. After Xiao Wu agreed, the other party quickly transferred the money. Xiao Wu felt something was wrong and immediately returned the money. "Isn't this just another way of saying fake orders?"

With the help of Xiao Wu, the reporter entered a part-time job group for students at a university in Guangdong and saw someone posted a part-time job information in the group for "brushing comments and orders in the live broadcast room". After the reporter contacted the poster, the other party asked him to change his avatar and name on a short video platform and go to a designated live broadcast room to brush comments and gifts. If he needed to place an order, he would be notified separately and screenshots were required after brushing. The live broadcast started at 7 pm and he could not leave the live broadcast room during the live broadcast. The commission was 25 yuan per hour and a live broadcast lasted about 3 to 4 hours.

The platform implements regulatory responsibilities

Timely detection and increased punishment

The Regulations for the Implementation of the Consumer Rights Protection Law, which came into effect on July 1 this year, clearly stipulated for the first time that merchants are prohibited from "brushing orders and speculating on reputation", and pointed out that this is an illegal act of obtaining profits based on false transactions, which violates business ethics, disrupts market order, and should be an invalid contract.

Relevant departments in various regions have been committed to combating illegal activities such as online trolls, fake orders, and false positive reviews. Recently, the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Market Supervision Administration decided to deploy a four-month special law enforcement campaign against unfair competition in the Internet from August to December, focusing on investigating and punishing illegal and irregular activities such as online fake orders, rewarded positive reviews, and fictitious positive reviews, so as to better purify the Internet ecological environment. Zhejiang police cracked down on several major cases of online trolls and false positive reviews, involving a total amount of more than 10 million yuan, which has formed a strong deterrent to illegal activities in cyberspace.

In Zhu Wei's opinion, at present, the relevant legal provisions on e-commerce data falsification are relatively complete, mainly including the Anti-Unfair Competition Law, the E-Commerce Law, the "Network Transaction Supervision and Administration Measures", etc. If it involves criminal offenses, illegal business operations, false advertising, fraud, etc. may also be applied.

Even though the legal provisions are relatively complete and the media has reported relevant cases many times, there are still many such cases every year. How can the problem of online store data fraud be eradicated?

Luan Yan suggested that relevant departments should strengthen the construction and implementation of laws and regulations, clearly define the legal responsibilities for unfair competition such as false sales, increase penalties and raise the cost of violations; e-commerce platforms must improve their technical supervision capabilities, conduct real-time monitoring and intelligent analysis of online transaction behaviors, and promptly discover and investigate illegal activities such as false sales. In addition, they should improve the construction of the credit system, record the illegal and irregular behaviors of merchants in credit files, and make them public to the society to form a good market order.

Zhu Wei believes that e-commerce platforms should fulfill their supervisory responsibilities. The platform connects multiple parties such as influencers, e-commerce merchants, and consumers. All data and transaction situations can be objectively and truthfully displayed here. If there are fake orders in the live broadcast, the platform can easily find clues. Therefore, e-commerce platforms should correct the behavior of anchors after discovering the problem of fake orders. After receiving relevant reports, the platform should verify whether it involves illegal or irregular situations and fulfill its obligation to stop such violations. Consumers should also keep their eyes open and consume rationally when shopping online. Don't follow the trend. Once they find that they have been deceived, they should report the situation to the platform as soon as possible and actively protect their rights.

Source: Legal Daily