The naval gang has been caught!, Selling Misfortune to Create a "Daliangshan Character" and Selling Fake Goods
Exciting and tense music
A popular product that only lasts for ten seconds
High quality
In addition, the tempting comments of "old fans" scrolling through the screen
How many people have experienced this kind of live streaming sales?
Be careful not to fall into the trap of the "online water army"!
On September 14th, 2023, the National Cybersecurity Awareness Week Rule of Law Day, Sichuan Public Security held a press conference with the theme of "Maintaining a Clear Cyberspace and Cracking Down on Cyberchaos". The conference reported on the work of the public security organs in the province to crack down on cyber warfare, cybercrime, cyber hackers, and cybercrime, and released relevant typical cases. Among them, the Liangshan Public Security Bureau cracked down on cases where they worked together to create internet celebrity anchors who sold tragedies, staged poverty scenes to attract traffic, hired "online water armies" to increase followers and attract traffic, and used traffic to sell counterfeit agricultural and sideline products.
Basic case
Since June this year, the cybersecurity department of Liangshan has been investigating illegal criminal cases involving false advertising and the sale of counterfeit products by "internet celebrities". Multiple "network water army" groups have been found to cooperate with MCN institutions in Nanjing, Chengdu and other places, using "helping farmers" as a gimmick to disguise themselves as ordinary consumers in short videos and e-commerce platforms. They follow established language, comment, and reply in the "internet celebrity" live broadcast room, and cooperate with "internet celebrities" to create a "Daliangshan original ecology" persona, selling counterfeit "characteristic agricultural products".
After investigation, in order to cooperate with the false promotion of "internet celebrities" in the live broadcast room, MCN agency contacted a media company in Baoding, Hebei, and a network water army group in Beijing to carry out "investment flow" business. The media company uses more than 1000 business licenses to register advertising accounts on short video platforms, increasing the price of 1000 followers by 100 to 160 yuan, and gaining followers for internet celebrities in live streaming rooms. Xu received orders through a professional platform and distributed them to various "data centers" to manipulate robot accounts in bulk. He disguised himself as a consumer and commented on the origin of the products and exaggerated their effectiveness during live streaming sales, allowing internet celebrity anchors to quickly label them as helping farmers and promoting public welfare. Through the "investment flow" platform, MCN institutions accurately promote internet celebrities to netizens with relevant interests, suitable age groups, and specific regions, in order to achieve the goal of increasing followers and attracting traffic, creating the illusion of explosive products and grabbing orders, and inducing consumers to purchase products.
The main characteristics of this online naval gang are as follows:
Well organized
Through on-site visits to local residents, accessing online information, and investigating live streaming groups, it was discovered that internet celebrity hosts performed on the front end, while water army groups attracted traffic behind the scenes, forming an industrialized operation model of "attracting fans, attracting traffic, promoting goods, and monetizing".
Strong confusion
MCN agencies specialize in collecting classic scripts, using professional filming and hiring online talent to enhance the atmosphere, presenting to netizens the arduous lives of internet celebrities and the inspirational stories of getting rich through sales, in order to gain traffic, consume the goodwill of netizens, and then produce and sell counterfeit products for profit, making it difficult for netizens to distinguish between true and false.
The involved area is wide
The online water army groups are distributed throughout the country, involving multiple places such as Liangshan, Chengdu, Nanjing, Guangzhou, etc. Each group uses network communication tools as a link bridge, unaware of their true identities, operates independently, and has obvious decentralization characteristics. The total amount of counterfeit "specialty agricultural products" sold by the involved internet celebrities through live streaming reached over 20 million yuan, and the goods were sent to various parts of the country, seriously infringing on the order of the online market economy and the legitimate rights and interests of consumers.
Up to now, Liangshan's network security department has destroyed 3 "Internet Water Army" companies and captured 52 suspect, including 2 popular webmasters, 2 MCN organization members and 2 supply chain leaders. Cracked down on 5 false advertising network media companies, 12 e-commerce platform supply stores, sealed down 13 involved companies, destroyed 4 live streaming platform traffic control rating "data centers", confiscated more than 400 involved mobile phones, suspended more than 1500 involved virtual accounts, and froze more than 5 million yuan in involved funds.
Liangshan Public Security Reminder
The internet is not a lawless place, and online activities such as acting as a "child" for online live streaming platforms, false "ranking", brushing orders and speculation, controlling traffic and reviews, spreading rumors and slander, and extortion are all suspected of illegal and criminal activities.
Liangshan Public Security will continue to strictly and quickly crack down on the governance of online water armies, online rumors, online violence and other online chaos and illegal crimes, creating a clean and orderly online environment. Here, we remind netizens to carefully distinguish between authenticity and not blindly follow the trend when shopping in the live broadcast room. At the same time, we also encourage netizens to actively report clues related to online crimes, enhance their awareness of network security, and jointly build a shared and civilized online home.
More news
Liangshan Detects the Case of A Rimou Hiring an "Online Water Army" to Sell Tragic Goods
The investigation by Liangshan Public Security Bureau found that since 2022, a media company in Chengdu has deliberately packaged several internet celebrity anchors, including "Liangshan Moubu" and "Liangshan Mouyang", by filming short videos of poverty and tragic experiences through language and scripts. They have hired "online water armies" to attract followers and control reviews on a certain platform, continuously boosting the popularity of their live broadcast rooms, selling counterfeit original agricultural products, achieving high sales, seeking huge profits, and seriously disrupting the order of the online market economy, smearing the achievements of poverty alleviation.
In July 2023, Liangshan Public Security organized police forces to go to Chengdu, Sichuan, Nanjing, Xiong County, Henan, Shanghai and other places to carry out centralized network access work for suspect, demolish 5 network media companies suspected of false propaganda, 3 "network water army" companies, seize 52 suspect, seize more than 1500 virtual accounts involved in the case, freeze more than 5 million yuan involved in the case, seize 3 sets of counterfeit equipment, and more than 30 tons of counterfeit raw materials.
