Chinese Man Says 58.com Job Ads Reason for Being Kidnapped as “Blood Slave”
Recent reports of a Chinese man from Jiangsu province who was kidnapped and used as a “blood slave” by a gang after he refused to participate in online fraud activities in the Cambodian city of Sihanoukville have shocked authorities and Chinese web users. A further detail in this harrowing case is that he attributed the incident partly to his blind belief in job advertisements on 58.com, a Chinese employment seeking website.
The victim, who has the surname Li, claimed that in June 2021, he was taken to Cambodia against his will. He was “resold” many times due to his refusal to join in an online fraud operation. He then had 1500ml of blood taken from him every month and a half, amounting to seven individual times since August last year.
On Wednesday night, the Chinese Embassy in Cambodia issued a notice on the case, saying that both country’s police are cooperating to carry out investigations and will strive to solve the case as soon as possible.
58.com responded to Jiemian News on Friday, expressing deep sympathy for the victim. However, at present, 58.com has not found any recruitment information referred to by the victim. The platform said it will fully cooperate with police to safeguard the rights and interests of users.
58.com was established in 2005, and its business covers various fields including recruitment, real estate, automobiles, second-hand products, local services and finance. As a classified information platform, 58.com’s revenue mainly comes from online marketing service fees and membership fees.
SEE ALSO: China’s State Administration for Market Regulation Unveils 43 Anti-monopoly Cases
However, the platform has gone through some chaos in recent years. As early as 2018, reports pointed out that there were 60 fraud cases involving 58.com and a similar website Ganji.com discovered on China Judgments Online, among which 248 defendants were defrauded by the publication of false recruitment information. In addition, more than 5,500 victims were deceived into handing over nearly 100 million yuan ($16 million).
