A livestreaming e-commerce merchant on Yingfeng Street, Hangzhou, suffered 94 fraudulent ‘only-refund’ requests out of 122 orders. In 57 returned packages, used clothing replaced the original goods. The merchant subsequently blocked all 220,000 local consumers.

Social Context

Livestream commerce hubs like Hangzhou’s Yuhang District face organized ‘refund farming’ syndicates exploiting platform algorithms. Under China’s Cybersecurity Law and newly enforced 2024 Platform Accountability Rules, platforms must now share fraud pattern data with industry associations and flag repeat offenders across ecosystems.

Safety Tip

Consumers should verify return policies pre-purchase and retain order screenshots; reporting suspicious refund patterns via the national 12315 platform triggers cross-platform blacklisting protocols.