Investigating the phenomenon of elderly people being scammed by scanning QR codes
2024-10-24
As long as you scan, there will be gifts given. "Recently, Ms. Li's father, a native of Shandong, became a member of a newly opened small supermarket by scanning a QR code to receive a box of eggs. He was later added to a social group of hundreds, and the group leader claimed that various gifts would be distributed for free irregularly. Until one day, when her father spent 1000 yuan to buy 6 bags of sour milk powder and happily claimed that this product had a miraculous effect of "enhancing immunity", Ms. Li realized that her father had fallen into a scanning scam. After communicating with her father, Ms. Li discovered that the elderly person has been addicted to scanning QR codes for some time. Sometimes they scan codes to receive gifts, sometimes they scan codes to do tasks to receive red envelopes, and even scan codes to do brushing orders. The extra tissues, paper boxes, noodles, etc. at home were all collected by her father through scanning QR codes. "The old man always thinks that he can get a small advantage by scanning the code, but he doesn't know that there are various risks behind it," Ms. Li roast. Similar incidents have occurred in many elderly people. They are addicted to scanning QR codes, but lack awareness of the risks behind them, leading to scams. For example, some people are easily attracted by the shouting of "free gifts" when exercising in the park, and information leakage during scanning can result in bank card theft and fraud; Someone saw "entrepreneurs" using small red envelopes as bait to promote QR codes, but when they eagerly scanned the codes, their social media account passwords were stolen and they sent fraudulent text messages in bulk; Some people are addicted to scanning codes for order brushing tasks, only to find out that it is a scam. The interviewed experts remind that in the era of digital information, some elderly people are easily addicted to the internet and their rights are damaged due to a lack of judgment ability. Therefore, elderly people must enhance their self-protection awareness, pay attention to and understand the potential security risks of QR codes, and prevent being deceived due to petty gains. When encountering personal information leakage, the first way to stop losses is to unbind, freeze, and learn to use legal means to protect personal information security. Mr. Liu's father, a 70 year old Tianjin native, is fond of scanning QR codes to get things. He is greedy for small bargains and addicted to scanning QR codes, which can easily lead to personal information leakage. Usually, when he hears his neighbors say where he can scan QR codes to get things downstairs, he immediately sets off, and most of the time, he invites his peers in groups of three or five to go. As long as I see 'scan to receive gifts', my father can't walk anymore. There are a lot of eggs, drinks, and toilet paper piled up at home now, all of which were collected by my father by scanning codes in the community or on the street. I reminded him many times not to scan the code casually, but he just wouldn't listen. When he saw someone promoting scanning the code to receive gifts, he would go. Fortunately, he hasn't been fooled or deceived yet Mr. Liu said. Ms. Li's father is not so lucky. She told reporters that the supermarket where her father scanned the QR code usually only sells flour, noodles, eggs and other goods, and occasionally distributes free eggs, small carts and other items to nearby elderly people. Suddenly one day, supermarket staff distributed yogurt powder and yogurt machines to elderly people, claiming that it was a free promotional activity from a certain brand manufacturer. In order to increase interaction, the other party occasionally distributes small red envelopes in the group, encouraging elderly people to share photos and videos of homemade yogurt. After some time, the group leader claimed that offline health lectures could be listened to for free, and gifts would be given as soon as the lecture was attended. Ms. Li's father and some group members are unaware and rush to attend classes every morning at 6:30 am, returning home at noon. "The contents of the lecture were all related to sour milk powder. The other side claimed that sour milk powder had miraculous effects such as improving stomach and intestines, regulating stomach acid, and enhancing immunity. The elderly who were present were encouraged to buy it. They also said that the more they bought, the more they gave away. The gifts included activating collaterals oil, vitamin C tablets, Sachima, biscuits, coconut oil, toothpaste, soap, etc." Ms. Li said that after listening to lectures for a period of time, her father and others firmly believed in the magical effects of sour milk powder. When they heard that there were gifts to buy, they all paid for them. After discovering that her father had been deceived, Ms. Li went to investigate the situation of this supermarket and found that the other party's claim that "there are more than 30 branches across the country" was false. By the time she wanted to come and seek an explanation, the supermarket was already empty and the social group had been disbanded. After being deceived, Ms. Li's father did not learn his lesson. Later, when he saw someone using the gimmick of "scanning codes to do tasks and receive red envelopes" for promotion, he continued to scan codes and did tasks with his phone every day. However, instead of receiving red envelopes, he invested a lot of money. During the interview, it was found that some elderly people had their social media accounts leaked due to scanning codes to receive gifts, almost causing a big mistake. One day, Ms. Su from Hebei Province was browsing a short video platform when she accidentally discovered that her mother's account had posted an indecent video. She quickly used her mother's phone to check her personal profile and found that her login IP address was Zhejiang and her profile picture had been changed to a stranger's photo. There were already many indecent contents in her private message. It turns out that a few days ago, my mother encountered a "promotion" activity (offline promotion activity), where the other party claimed that she could receive eggs for free by scanning the code. After scanning the code, my mother found that the registration process was very complicated, so she simply handed over her phone to the "staff" to help operate. Meanwhile, the other party asked for her ID number, telephone number and other information on the grounds of filling in information. After the "staff" operation was completed, Ms. Su's mother left with an egg in her hand. Little did they know that after this operation, their social media account had been secretly logged in by the other party, and they had activated the password free payment function. Ms. Su quickly changed the passwords of all accounts in her mother's phone, removed all devices that were not logged in by herself, and promptly stopped the loss. I often scan codes and haven't encountered any problems before. Who would have thought that something big would happen this time After learning the truth, the mother regretted deeply and said that she would never scan codes casually for cheap money again in the future. Scan the code to join the group to purchase courses, bury your head in brushing orders and fall into the trap of scams. During the interview, the reporter noticed that some elderly people were addicted to scanning codes and fell into the trap of brushing orders. Ms. Zhang from Jiangsu is 65 years old this year. She has nothing else to do except take care of her grandson on weekdays. In her free time, she likes to scan codes on short video platforms to do tasks and receive red envelopes. A while ago while browsing a social media platform, she saw a part-time job advertisement and scanned the code to add the other person as a friend. The other party claimed that "authoritative and legitimate platforms for shopping and brushing orders have guaranteed large rebates," and Ms. Zhang believed it and carefully read the so-called brushing tutorial sent by the other party with her phone. Subsequently, Ms. Zhang opened a credit payment on a certain platform as requested by the other party, and recharged 50 yuan to a mobile phone number on a certain shopping platform. After the recharge was completed, the other party claimed that Ms. Zhang made a mistake in her operation. Instead of enabling screen sharing, the "hands-on" teaching allowed Ms. Zhang to purchase 2990 yuan recharge cards in batches again. After completing the purchase, Ms. Zhang found that the recharge card she had purchased had been used by the other party, but she did not receive a response when she asked the other party. Ms. Zhang only realized that she had been deceived and called the police. Ms. Wang, a retired resident of Hebei, usually likes to shoot videos and occasionally edits some short videos to upload online. In order to improve her editing skills, she only needs to scan codes to learn from free tutorials. One day, she saw an advertisement on social media claiming that "simply operating your phone at home and editing videos can earn more income than your main business. Today, I want to introduce an emerging profession for making money - mobile video editing. This platform has just been launched, and not many people know about it. Join now, and your wallet will definitely swell this year. Scan the code to join the group, and I will teach you how to operate it step by step..." Ms. Wang was moved and took the initiative to scan the code to join the group. After joining the group, the group owner gave all members a 5-day "free" training course, which mainly focused on "success learning" - "Retired people and those who are idle at home should make money more", "Make money in their free time", "Others have successfully promoted products and realized fan monetization, are you still idle?" After being "brainwashed" for 5 days, Ms. Wang used her phone to research and make short videos every day. Finally, in order to improve her editing skills, she spent 2880 yuan in the group to buy a set of video editing courses. Actually, it's just a teaching of over 20 short videos, with the content of adding some rotating special effects, similar to making PPT, with simple and clich é d content. The knowledge of these teaching videos can be completely searched through the Internet. " Ms. Wang explained that each video link is accompanied by motivational text, such as "Success has always been about trying, not trying will never succeed, half of success is courage, daring to try often leads to success", etc. After learning these videos, the group leader claimed that in order to learn more advanced skills, they need to pay tuition fees again and register to purchase a workshop software priced at 499 yuan. After realizing that she had been deceived, Ms. Wang contacted the other party to apply for a refund and cancellation of the course, but was informed that "the teaching progress bar has already been pulled, which means you have completed the course and cannot receive a refund". The reporter found on a third-party complaint platform that there are many elderly people like Ms. Wang who have been deceived by money making courses to scan codes. Some people have been deceived into purchasing many advanced courses, spending more than 10000 yuan, but have not achieved the effects claimed by the other party, such as creating personal IP and making money for monetization. A complainant reported that after scanning the QR code to join the group, they were deceived by the group leader into purchasing a video editing course. The other party promised to have no hidden expenses and could refund at any time. However, less than a week after the course started, they were required to pay an additional 400 yuan to purchase AI software. If they did not purchase it, they could not continue with the subsequent course learning. "This is a digital divide problem that deserves attention in the current development of digital society." Xu Guangjian, a professor at the Institute of Public Finance and Public Policy, School of Public Management, Renmin University of China, said that some elderly people are not yet adapted to the development of digital society, and are not very familiar with the actual situation in the field of online consumption. Seeing that scanning QR codes is profitable, they are easy to indulge, and eventually become the target of fraud by criminals. Zhou Xuliang, director of Beijing Guanling Law Firm, believes that some elderly people live frugally and love to seek cheap things. In addition, their risk prevention awareness is weak and they have a herd mentality, which gives opportunities for criminals to take advantage of. There are various types of common scanning scams, including online rumors, false advertising, online fraud, and vulgar pornography. Some criminals take advantage of the characteristics of elderly people, such as information blockage and weak cognition, and use various fraudulent methods. Many elderly people only realize they have been deceived after suffering significant actual losses. Industry insiders have introduced that "local promotion" is currently becoming the main channel for some criminals to deceive the elderly. There are three common forms: attracting the elderly by "scanning QR codes and giving gifts" on the street, where they can receive a small gift by simply scanning the QR code with their mobile phone, which actually provides assistance for fraudulent activities; Using red envelopes as bait and even actively helping to operate mobile phones under the pretext of a newly opened store, with the aim of using public phone numbers to register social media accounts or send fraudulent text messages; Falsifying proxy official documents is called opening e-government services for the public, but in reality, it is providing assistance for fraudulent activities. How to protect the legitimate rights and interests of the elderly? Zhou Xuliang suggested establishing and improving institutions for protecting the rights and interests of the elderly, setting up specialized legal aid centers, and facilitating channels for safeguarding their rights. Family members should communicate and exchange more with the elderly, share various experiences of the information society, and enhance their judgment ability. From the perspective of social prevention, in addition to the special crackdown actions carried out by the public security department on a daily basis, it is also necessary to fully utilize the role of technology, install anti fraud software to intercept suspicious calls in a timely manner, and filter out spam messages. At the same time, popularize basic knowledge of the internet, enhance the adaptability of the elderly to new technologies, and strengthen self-protection awareness Zhou Xuliang said
Edit：Rina Responsible editor：Lily
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