Chinese court’s WeChat adverts offer cash to snitch on your indebted friends and relatives
- Rewards via mini-program on the app are announced by court in Hangzhou
- Chance to ‘participate in whistle-blowing’ in line with China’s social credit system
A court in eastern China has found a new way to target local debtors: sending advertisements to their friends and family on WeChat, offering them money to tell the court about new debts and to pressure the person to pay up.
The adverts are generated through a WeChat mini-program – an application smaller than 10 megabytes that can run instantly on the app’s interface – the court said in an article on its website last Monday.
It said the tailored advertisements “can expose [debtors] efficiently and spread through social networks, so that the debtor can voluntarily take responsibility, and this can provide a good environment for gaining effective tips about the debts”.
The article featured example advertisements with sample names and faces, bearing the heading “Wanted Notice” and stating underneath: “mobilising social forces, participating in whistle-blowing”.
One of the highest rewards in the real adverts – 8.8 million yuan (US$1.2 million) – is offered in relation to a woman named Zhu Lifeng, who is described as owing 177 million yuan, according to news portal Sina.com .