AN owner of a Taobao store surnamed Fan was recently cheated out of a total of 68,000 yuan (US$9,894) by a fake buyer who swindled the owner to recharge a phone number and virtual QQ coins, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported.

    The fake buyer also created a fictitious Taobao customer service account to urge the owner to recharge the phone number and QQ account. In fear of being required to shut down her online store, Fan had to follow the buyer’s instructions, only to find out later that she had been cheated.

    Fan later called the police who filed the case and started an investigation. Taobao announced that it had already frozen the accounts of the fake buyer.

    Fan, a Hunan native, started to operate the Taobao store in the second half of last year. She mainly sells accessories for digital devices and also runs a service to recharge mobile phones, according to a buyer’s order.

    On Jan. 22, a buyer contacted her via Taobao’s instant message software and urged her to recharge a phone number with 100 yuan, and threatened to make a complaint against her store if she did not recharge the phone in time.

    Soon after the message, another account named Taobao customer service sent messages to Fan to ask her to “deliver the goods as requested.” Since Fan had already received a warning from the real Taobao customer service and was afraid that her store would be shut down, she followed the order to recharge the phone number.

    However, the buyer did not stop after Fan recharged the phone. Instead, the buyer continued by telling Fan that a large amount of business could be done at her store. Using the same trick, the fake buyer eventually swindled 68,000 yuan out of Fan.

    (Zhang Qian)