On November 4, 2025, the host of CCTV’s “Today’s Verdict”, Li Xiaodong, recently revealed on social media that he fell victim to a street scam, claiming to have spent a thousand yuan on low-quality tea leaves. He attributed his falling into the trap to the mindset of seeking cheap deals, sparking discussions among netizens.
In a video posted on November 1, Li Xiaodong shared an experience where he was fooled by a street swindler. Li Xiaodong is well-known for promoting anti-fraud knowledge in front of the camera.
Li Xiaodong described the incident happening in a bank parking lot in Beijing, where a middle-aged man approached him to sell tea leaves as he was about to leave after finishing his business.
Initially, he made it clear that he did not drink tea and politely declined the man. However, the man persisted and insisted that he “take a look at the goods”. Subsequently, the man opened the trunk and rear door of his Mercedes-Benz car, revealing beautifully packaged tea leaf gift boxes.
The man claimed to have just participated in a tea leaf exhibition in Beijing and was getting ready to return to his hometown. Since he needed space for people in the rear seats of his car, he wanted to sell off the remaining tea leaves cheaply. He stated that the original price of the Tie Guan Yin tea was 1000 yuan per box, but he was selling them for only 300 yuan now. Seeing Li Xiaodong’s hesitation, he further lowered the price to 200 yuan per box.
Faced with such an “enticing” discount, Li Xiaodong admitted that he was tempted, and with a grit of his teeth and a stomping of his foot, he spent 1000 yuan to purchase 5 boxes of tea leaves.
After the transaction was completed, Li Xiaodong felt something was amiss. The next day, he sought help from a friend who knew about tea to identify the tea leaves. The result shocked him – the so-called “Tie Guan Yin” was actually counterfeit tea leaves with added flavorings, not even worth 50 yuan per box.
He joked, “Can you believe that I, a host of a legal program advocating against fraud and scams, also fell victim to a scam!”
“In every type of fraud, there’s one that suits you. Once you have covetous thoughts, falling into deception is not far away,” he said in the video.
After the release of the video, it sparked discussions among netizens.
Many netizens commented, “I had encountered this type of scam over thirty years ago, and it’s surprising that people are still being fooled. It’s alright, you can apply for reimbursement from the TV station: just say it’s for collecting material for the show, can you get this 1000 yuan reimbursed.”
“He claimed he doesn’t drink much tea, so why buy so many? Clearly a publicity stunt.”
“If he intentionally participated in the scam to deceive the public for the sake of the show, that would be a real scam.”