On June 17, after participating in the college entrance examination, an 18-year-old girl in Xi’an wanted to sell her tablet on the largest second-hand trading platform in China, “Xianyu”, only to fall into a scam trap. Not only did she pay a “deposit” of 2,000 yuan, but her mother’s over 210,000 yuan for cancer treatment was also transferred away.
Recently, Ms. Wang from Chang’an District in Xi’an told reporters from “Huashangbao ‧ DaFengNews” on June 22 that on June 17, her daughter Xinyu (alias) mentioned that after the college entrance exam, she no longer needed her tablet and wanted to sell it on a second-hand trading platform. Since Ms. Wang didn’t know how to operate the platform, she let her daughter handle it.
It was Xinyu’s first time selling something on “Xianyu”. She recounted the entire process to the reporters, “I listed my tablet on Xianyu platform for 1,100 yuan. Surprisingly, just a minute after posting the listing, someone contacted me, asking if the item was still available.” Feeling excited that someone was interested, she thought she could sell it quickly, “The buyer claimed to be in Zhejiang and wanted to buy a tablet for his younger brother’s learning. I didn’t suspect anything and even showed my tablet through video. However, during the video call, he did not turn on the camera.”
After the other party saw the tablet through video, they claimed to have purchased the item and provided a screenshot showing the transaction progress – the status of the tablet was “payment made, waiting for seller to ship”, but Xinyu did not receive the 1,100 yuan payment.
“The other party said that for transaction security, Xianyu platform required both of us to pay a 2,000 yuan deposit, which could be paid by clicking on a link with a promise of automatic refund in 3 minutes. So I clicked on the link and paid the deposit,” Xinyu said, but the deposit did not return as promised in 3 minutes.
When Xinyu inquired why she had not received the payment and why the deposit was not returned, the other party claimed that her previous transfer of the deposit was unsuccessful due to lack of permissions on the bank card and in order to refund the deposit, there were two options, “One option was to transfer an additional 5,000 yuan to the bank card where the deposit was transferred earlier, and the other was to use a guardian’s bank card.” Helpless, Xinyu called her mother and used her mother’s bank card.
Throughout the entire transaction process, the other party conducted remote operations via video calls. At that time, Xinyu did not realize anything amiss, but later understood that the other party was able to see her entered card number and password, remotely operating the bank card transfer.
Xinyu said, “Before using my mother’s bank card, the other party said I needed to download several apps, and I did so. After completing the operation, the other party said it would take 5 minutes for me to receive the payment and refund the deposit, and I believed it to be true.” Not long after, Ms. Wang received notifications showing 8 “transaction records” on the bank card, ranging from over 50,000 yuan to slightly over 1,000 yuan, totaling over 210,000 yuan. All the money in the bank card was gone.
Ms. Wang mentioned that she was diagnosed with breast cancer half a year ago, underwent surgery, and is currently undergoing chemotherapy, and the money in her bank card was her life-saving fund.
Xinyu feels guilty, saying, “I feel like a criminal.” She originally wanted to sell the tablet used for learning to lighten the burden at home, but she never expected her mother’s life-saving money would be deceived.
On June 22, the topic labeled “Girl tricked out of 210,000 with mother’s life-saving money for selling tablet on Xianyu” surged to the top of Weibo’s hot search.
Netizens condemned the scammer, “These scammers target students selling something for the first time, high school graduates, and middle-aged and elderly people who are unfamiliar with platform rules. These people lack trading experience and are easily intimidated and induced by tactics like ‘order frozen, credit damaged, immediate refund of deposit’.”
“A high school graduate who has just graduated has naivety and would not expect people with such evil intentions. She probably wanted to earn some money to help her family, only to fall into the thief’s trap and dragged her mother’s life-saving money into it. In this situation, I feel like it will be difficult to recover, and this child is likely to feel guilty to death. Always remember not to click on unfamiliar links or download random apps, and always be cautious.”
Currently, the mother and daughter have reported the incident to the police, and the investigation is ongoing.
On June 21, reporters called Xianyu platform regarding the incident. Customer service personnel stated that the platform does not collect deposits from buyers or sellers, and incidents like this are usually scams, advising against transferring money easily. The reporters inquired, “Such incidents are not isolated cases. Does Xianyu platform have supervision? How do you ensure the safety of user funds?” The customer service staff acknowledged the issue, mentioning that relevant public relations personnel would contact the reporters. However, as of the time of reporting by the media, no response from the platform was received.
“Xianyu” is a second-hand trading platform under the Alibaba Group.