Beware of scams! A 30-yuan takeout order ended up costing 2,000 yuan after being scammed.

Compiled from: China Legal Education
 
Nowadays, food delivery apps have almost become a 'must-have' on our phones. Delivery riders can be seen everywhere in streets and alleys. At mealtimes, you just need to move your fingers and you can enjoy cuisine from all over the country without leaving your home. At the same time, more and more merchants are joining food delivery platforms, and everyone needs to be careful! New types of scams are emerging: a man ordered a 30-yuan black pepper pork chop but ended up spending 2,000 yuan, and some merchants lost over ten thousand yuan in transactions that never happened.

 
 

 
Case review
Mr. Chai ordered a takeout. About ten minutes later, he received a call from someone claiming to be from the restaurant, saying that the black pepper pork chop he ordered was no longer available and he needed to choose something else. It didn't matter if the price was a bit higher; he could just symbolically pay an extra two yuan to make up the difference.
 
Since the information provided by the other party was exactly the same as his own order, Mr. Chai had no suspicion at all. At this time, the other party informed Mr. Chai that the two yuan difference needed to be paid through Alipay, and all Mr. Chai had to do was tell him the numbers on the payment code over the phone. Mr. Chai straightforwardly reported the payment code, and after he did, the other party said that chatting with Mr. Chai had delayed the scan, and the payment code updates every minute, so Mr. Chai had to report it again.
 
Mr. Chai followed the instructions, but this time, a clear sound came from the other end of the phone: You have received a payment of 985. At the same time, Mr. Chai also received a payment notification and asked the other party what was going on. The other party said that the system had a problem again and would immediately return the extra amount. However, later not only was the money not returned, but when Mr. Chai called back, the phone could not be connected.
 
From the bill, it can be seen that within a minute, the other party swiped two payments from Mr. Chai: the first was 986 yuan, and the second was 991 yuan, totaling 1,977 yuan. The first time, the other party said the transaction didn’t go through, but it was just to buy time to take Mr. Chai's money. When Mr. Chai came to his senses, the takeout he had ordered earlier arrived on time, with a steaming hot black pepper pork chop in the box. Mr. Chai mocked himself, saying: 'A 2,000-yuan pork chop, really delicious...'}
 
Afterwards, Mr. Chai discovered that the other party's phone number did not match the phone number the business had listed on the delivery platform. The reason Mr. Chai was deceived this time was mainly because the other party mentioned his detailed information, which lowered his guard.
 
 
《 [1] The People's Republic of China 刑法》
Article 266 [Fraud Crime]
Whoever defrauds public or private property, if the amount is relatively large, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years, criminal detention, or public surveillance, and shall also, or shall only, be fined; if the amount is huge or there are other serious circumstances, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than ten years, and shall also be fined; if the amount is especially huge or there are other especially serious circumstances, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than ten years or life imprisonment, and shall also be fined or have property confiscated. Where this Law otherwise provides, such provisions shall prevail.
 
 
[1] The author's perspective
In recent years, with changes in people's lifestyles and the continuous development of information technology, scammers have gradually phased out the most primitive methods of fraud. Nowadays, using telecom or online scams has become very common, and the sophistication of their scripts and the unpredictability of their techniques are no longer something ordinary people can recognize at a glance. This case involves the most commonly used food delivery apps in daily life, where scammers can recite the victim's detailed information word for word, indicating that there may be serious information leaks in the delivery app or restaurant. This shows that although fraudsters are everywhere, as service-providing platforms, it is also necessary to constantly pay attention to protecting users' private information and to improve technical measures to leave no room for scammers.