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在线翻译:
szdaily -> News -> 
16 detained for blackmailing online stores
    2018-08-14  08:53    Shenzhen Daily

LONGHUA police have detained a total of 16 suspects for allegedly blackmailing online stores by leaving negative comments, the Daily Sunshine reported, citing the Longhua public security authority.


The owner of a Shenzhen-based online store selling computer accessories, identified as Xiaotong, fell victim to the blackmailing scheme orchestrated by a couple several times. The couple was arrested in Guangzhou in June.


Xiaotong has been running the online store with a partner since 2009 and the store has enjoyed a good reputation. However, in the past year or so, his online store began receiving negative comments from buyers.


He said his nightmare began last September when a buyer left a 400-word negative comment on a type of computer that was selling well.


Worrying that the comment might affect sales volume, Xiaotong contacted the buyer to solve the problem, but the buyer refused to return the product or accept a refund. The buyer threatened to ruin the reputation of Xiaotong’s online store unless he was paid.


Xiaotong offered the buyer 500 yuan (US$73) to delete the negative comment, but the buyer demanded 8,888 yuan. In the end, Xiaotong compromised and the buyer deleted the comment.


After half a year, Xiaotong encountered the same trick again, and the buyer asked for 8,888 yuan. Xiaotong eventually paid 6,999 yuan to get rid of the bad comment.


A third blackmail happened in less than two months. Xiaotong noticed that although the buyers had different accounts, the phone number registered to the second and third buyers was the same, so Xiaotong suspected that the same person kept blackmailing him and called the police. Xiaotong’s online store paid more than 600,000 yuan to have negative comments deleted over the past two years.


Following the online payment accounts provided by Xiaotong, Longhua District police tracked down a suspect surnamed Deng who later admitted that she and her husband, surnamed Wang, had blackmailed Xiaotong and other victims on taobao.com.


The Longhua police have been receiving consistent reports about “negative commentators” on taobao.com since 2017. A special investigative team was summoned to look into the cases.


By the end of March 9, the police had arrested all eight members of the gang, including Deng and Wang, who had allegedly pocketed over 100,000 yuan in illegal gains by conducting more than 10 blackmail schemes against online stores. The gang was based in Qingyuan City.


In total, Longhua police had arrested 16 suspects in several cases of online shop extortion as of July 31. (Zhang Qian)

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