Beijing: and Shanghai police have warned about a new type of scam involving packages containing phone stands.
Netizens shared their experience of receiving unexpected packages containing a phone stand, along with promotional materials or scratch cards from online stores. All these items have one thing in common — a QR code printed on them. According to the police, this is a highly deceptive new form of fraud. People may believe that these packages are gifts from the customer service departments of online platforms. Without much thought, they may scan the provided QR code, only to be led into a chat group created by the scammers, and fall into their trap.
Recently, a woman surnamed Sun received such a package, which included a phone stand, an invitation letter, and a scratch card with a QR code. After scratching the card, she found that she had won a 10 yuan ($1.4) red envelope and seasonal fruits. Upon scanning the QR code, Sun was directed to a chat group where she received the red envelope and fruits.
The group manager then distributed fake orders within the group. Placing fake orders is a common trick to make an online shop’s sales figures look appealing.
Sun initially attempted a 300 yuan task and was given a commission of 450 yuan. After completing a second and third fake order task, she had spent over 7,000 yuan but had not received any commissions. –The Daily Mail-China Daily news exchange item
