Yesterday (23rd), a message circulated in several Chinese WeChat groups in Brooklyn with the same content: “Please help spread the word. My friend found a wallet with an identification card: Zhang Yongfu, over 10 cards, around 8000 yuan in cash, 2 plane tickets (Zhang Yongfu, Zhang Yuling), the plane tickets are for the day after tomorrow. Please help spread the word. Good deeds bring good karma. Please contact the owner at 151*********.”
Upon seeing this, many people’s initial reaction was to “help spread the word,” hoping to assist the owner in retrieving their belongings. However, several community members pointed out that this was actually a false message. Some mentioned having seen similar content in previous years, while others highlighted how unrealistic it is for a wallet to contain 8000 yuan in cash, suspecting it may be a scam to exploit people’s greed by tricking them into claiming the wallet as their own. Community member Ling Fei warned that this is actually a rumor originating from mainland China.
Ling Fei noted that the phone number starting with “151” in the message belongs to a Chinese mainland number range. He explained that messages like “lost wallet,” “missing person notice,” and “reward for finding” should be highly doubted if they lack accompanying photos, as there are people deliberately spreading such messages to harass individuals associated with that phone number.
“I didn’t know about this before, but later one of my friends fell victim to these messages,” Ling Fei said. “These messages about missing persons or lost items with rewards are pretty much the same; as long as there are no photos, they are likely to be this type of harassing information. These people exploit everyone’s kindness to create disturbances on WeChat.”
Further investigation online revealed that as early as 2017, mainland Chinese media had reported nearly identical versions of this rumor. The content at that time was: “Please help spread the word. My friend found a wallet with an ID card: Wei Weijian, over 10 cards, about 8000 yuan in cash, 2 plane tickets (Wei Weijian, Wei Qiaoying), the plane tickets are for the day after tomorrow. Please help spread the word. Good deeds bring good karma. Please contact the owner at 13*********.”
Reports indicated that this “Wei Weijian lost wallet” message had appeared as far back as February of that year and had spawned multiple regional versions, including in Guangdong, Shandong, Henan, Gansu, with almost identical content but varying names and phone numbers. Experts quoted in the report emphasized that if you truly find lost items, the most correct and effective action is to hand over the items to the local police in charge of lost property, allowing them to contact the owner legally. This ensures the rightful owner gets their belongings back and prevents issues like false claims or misappropriation. Reports cautioned that mass reposting on social media to find the owner is not only inefficient but could also lead to malicious alterations in contact information during circulation, resulting in innocent individuals being harassed and even creating risks of fraud such as “fee-charging calls.”
Therefore, when faced with such “please spread the word” messages, it’s important to remain vigilant, verify information, and not inadvertently aid in spreading rumors. Genuine kindness also requires rationality and discernment to support it.