(Ecns.cn)--A new type of trick has shown up on Taobao.com, China's leading e-commerce platform, in which shop owners are forced to pay bribes to get good reviews.
"It has cost me dozens of yuan to revise bad ratings this month," complained Xiao Xie, a Taobao shop owner located in Xiamen, East China. "It is important for me to get good comments, because they influence customer decisions."
In the scam, the culprits apply for many different accounts on Taobao and then buy cheap products, which allows them to post negative comments on a shop's public page. They then demand 10 to 15 yuan to revise each bad comment to a favorable one.
"The products they buy may be only worth one yuan, so their profit is incredibly high," said an online shop owner. By doing this, they can easily earn 3,000 yuan a month from home.
Even though the practice has been strongly criticized by online shop owners and caused disorder in the industry, it is not yet considered a crime, said a lawyer.
Most rating systems still lack protection by law, making it difficult for shop owners to protect themselves. "It is not the fault of the online rating system," the lawyer said. "Our legislation has failed to keep up with emerging trends."
