Wang Jingli

wangjingli0715@163.com

THIS year’s “315 Evening Gala” held Monday on CCTV, China’s Central TV Station, exposed malpractices of four Shenzhen-based companies. After the show, the Shenzhen Administration for Market Regulation immediately inspected the companies and briefed media  on its investigation yesterday afternoon.

The show exposed that cameras powered by facial recognition technologies were installed at a Shenzhen ZhongTong BMW 4S store.

According to the investigation conducted by Shenzhen Administration for Market Regulation, the shop has collected information of 4,617 consumers from the cameras as of Monday.

The behavior was considered illegal as the business failed to earn authorization from customers to use their personal information. The administration said that they will launch a judiciary investigation.

Shenzhen Reconova Company was alleged to have cooperated with the 4S store to collect the information. The store, however, didn’t use facial recognition products from Reconova and the administration said the two companies have no cooperative relations.

Reconova was confirmed  to have businesses related to products powered by facial recognition technologies. Investigation on the company is still ongoing.

A watch customer service center at Shenzhen Kingkey 100 building was accused of exaggerating service to charge customers unreasonable higher prices.

Law enforcement officers found one bill issued by the center, which showed a service fee of 20,000 yuan (US$3,078) to demagnetize a watch. However, the service cost is said to be much lower.

The officers also found that the center placed a fake after-service authorization certificate and a fake membership certificate of Guangdong Province Horologe Industry Association.

The administration seized the fake certificates and will speed up further investigation.

The last company, Shenzhen Zhuoyueshidai Watch Repair Center, was accused of failing to publish its required annual report in 2019.

The administration said the center canceled its registration March 12.

The administration included the company into a list of abnormal business operations Dec. 28 last year. Now, the center has moved out from its office.