The topic labeled “Demanded Refund for Erroneously Paying 1010 Yuan Fare Resulted in Suicide” briefly trended as the number one hot search on Weibo on July 22. On March 29 of this year, a 19-year-old boy named Guo from Hebi, Henan Province came to Shanghai for work for the first time. When he took a taxi from Hongqiao High-speed Railway Station, he had agreed privately with the driver on a fare of 100 yuan (RMB), but accidentally paid 1010 yuan. Despite his attempts to request a refund, he ended up taking his own life several days later.
On July 21, the boy’s brother Mr. Guo told Jupai News that the incident involved their youngest sibling who was about to turn 19 and had come to Shanghai for the first time, intending to work with their cousin in Shanghai, but they did not expect such a tragedy upon arrival.
Mr. Guo explained that on March 29, his brother got off at Shanghai Hongqiao High-speed Railway Station and was supposed to take a taxi to Baojiayuan Community in Pudong New Area. Before getting off, he scanned a QR code to transfer 1010 yuan due to an error while trying to pay the agreed 100 yuan fare. The driver took the money and drove away. Despite the brother’s attempts to contact the driver via WeChat for a refund, there was no response.
On March 31, with his cousin’s accompaniment, the brother went to the Yangyuan Police Station in Pudong to report the incident, but the police only provided the driver’s license plate information without further details.
On April 3, the cousin informed Mr. Guo that his brother had gone missing and was contemplating suicide.
Early on April 4, Mr. Guo rushed to Shanghai and together with his family and the police, they searched for nearly six days until the evening of April 9 when they found the brother’s body on Qionglu Mountain in Suzhou, confirming that he had ingested pesticide to commit suicide on the early morning of April 6.
Mr. Guo added that the driver had never contacted them proactively since the incident. Initially, they managed to reach the driver by phone, but later they could no longer get through.
Having completed his brother’s funeral arrangements, Mr. Guo took legal action against the driver. “The court session was scheduled for July 16, but he did not appear.” On July 22, Jupai News learned from lawyer Li, representing Mr. Guo, that the main legal demand of the case was to recover the excess payment made to the driver.
Mr. Guo shared that their family used to consist of five members, with the brother being the youngest about to turn 19, characterized by introversion. Both parents are in their fifties; the father is unwell and unable to work, while the family’s finances rely mainly on the mother’s odd jobs, thus being in a modest financial situation. Following the brother’s passing, the parents are emotionally devastated and continually in tears every day.
This incident quickly sparked outrage online.
Users commented, “It’s too heartbreaking, the child came out to work, the extra 900 yuan hit him hard, making him feel like the world had collapsed.” “So sad, various irresponsible parties led to this situation, which could have easily been resolved. The child must have been extremely distressed at the time.” “Seeing this news is truly heart-wrenching, knowing that if anyone had taken some responsibility, this child would not have departed. The human heart is terrifying.”
“With the license plate, the police could easily find the driver’s phone number, a call from the officer could have assisted in the investigation for a solution.” “Reporting to the police is futile, filing a lawsuit costs money, possibly more than a thousand yuan.” “Having personally experienced a similar incident where reporting to the police had no effect, I also could not recover 3000 yuan. Filing a report was the end, they wouldn’t follow up, just ticking off a task for them.” “Many suggest reporting to the police when facing difficulties, who should we approach then? Tell me loudly, who should we seek?”