The Shenzhen local procuratorate recently pressed charges against five women for suspicion of prostitution and solicitation via the mobile messaging platform WeChat. The five suspects fashioned themselves as celebrities with their own profile pages on online encyclopedia and a handful of media reports of their activities on portal websites. However, they simultaneously labelled themselves as high-priced prostitutes on WeChat.
In fact, the online encyclopaedia entries and media reports about them were all fabricated with the intent to raise their "prices," according to the prosecutor, who confirmed for the first time the existence of what was called "peripheral women," meaning prostitutes who operate under the guise of celebrities in the entertainment industry.
A search engine query result showed that one suspect, a woman surnamed Qiao, has an entry on Baike.com that describes her as "born after 1990 in South Korea, having half Korean blood." Her encyclopedia page also says that Qiao studied piano in Austria since childhood and is now a professional actress and model.
An information page on Xinhuanet.com, Xinhua News Agency's website, claims that the woman, who is fluent in many languages, was once the champion of a beauty contest and is hailed as a "fashion talent" by the entertainment circle. These descriptions are all accompanied by sexy photos of the woman that prominently feature her cleavage and long legs.
Another suspect, a woman surnamed Du, had similar online profiles. On Sina's Hengyang local info website (Hunan.sina.com.cn/Hengyang), an information page introduces Du as having "studied vocal performance and dance since childhood" and describes her as "a gifted actress with talent that is hard to come by." The same website says Du works in close partnership with many fashion magazines and TV programs. Likewise, photos of her on these pages show off her figure.
The same fabrications were also seen on microblogging platforms. On Weibo, Qiao is listed as a professional actress and model, but she has been accused of making up fake titles for herself including "Miss World runner-up." Also on Weibo, Du was on a list of "peripheral commercial models," a euphemism for prostitutes.
Apart from engaging in prostitution themselves, the five women were also suspected of soliciting prostitution on WeChat. Du, whose real name is Jiang, confessed that she had recruiting others into the business.
She also confessed that her WeChat group included photographers and salespeople, although most members were prostitutes. She added that new members had to join the group through existing acquaintances.
Photographers took sexy photos of the women before salespeople paid to have fake identities created for them and had profile pages set up for them on online encyclopedia. The packaging greatly boosted these prostitutes' prices. According to the prosecutor, they sometimes received more than 10,000 yuan (US$1,612) for each service they provided.
In addition to the five women, authorities also arrested several photographers, salespeople, and agents of companies that helped connect the prostitutes to encyclopedia websites.
Procuratorate officials said the case showed that paid listings with search engine companies were also to blame for boosting the women's profile on the Internet.
"Some search engines are paying excessive attention to their business interests while neglecting the control of their operations, causing the spread of pornographic information," said Tao Ran, a prosecutor at the Shenzhen People's Procuratorate. He said that paid listings on search engines should also be subject to legal regulations, since "we all need a healthy online environment."
