Wenzhou E-commerce Employees Resign in Retaliation, Launch Several Waves of Destructive Negative Reviews

A boss of an e-commerce company in Wenzhou, Zhejiang province, with thousands of employees, retaliated against departing employees by launching multiple “destructive” negative reviews on their newly established companies’ identical products, resorting to all means to bring down their competitors. On April 30, “Former employees targeted by ex-boss” continued to trend on the hot search list, sparking heated discussions.

News Night reported on April 29 that the boss of an umbrella factory in Shaoxing district, Zhejiang province, named Song Changqing (alias), who also dabbles in e-commerce, discovered that the best-selling umbrella in his own online store sold more than 300 units within a few hours. However, the next day, the orders were frantically returned, followed by a flood of negative reviews the day after.

Within two months, he experienced three rounds of “destructive” review “bombardment.” When buyers received their orders, dozens of negative reviews appeared, leaving him puzzled: each review claimed “mismatched goods” even though he was selling automatic umbrellas, but the negative reviews alleged he was selling rusted old-style umbrellas.

He said, “I contacted one of the buyers to inquire about the reason behind it, and the other party said that someone instructed them to do so.”

The other party even applied for a refund immediately after he had shipped the products. As a result, he not only lost on the umbrellas but also incurred losses on logistics and packaging costs.

After facing three “attacks,” Song Changqing, who had originally ranked first in the umbrella category, dropped to second place. According to statistics, there were over 1,600 orders refunded immediately after shipment, over 100 negative reviews, and some goods were only refunded without being returned, directly causing a loss of over 13,000 yuan in delivery fees. Moreover, the store’s monthly sales plummeted by a staggering 1 million yuan due to the negative reviews, resulting in a profit loss of over ten thousand yuan.

In order to reclaim the top spot in the category, Song Changqing had no choice but to resort to discounted sales, offering the lowest prices to regain positive reviews from genuine buyers. At the lowest discount, an umbrella priced at 22 yuan was sold for 11 yuan. While running loss-making promotions, he also lodged complaints with the platform and eventually decided to file a report.

Apart from Song Changqing, many other manufacturers also fell victim to the “attacks.”

Finally, an e-commerce company located in Wenzhou (referred to as the “Wenzhou company”) emerged. This company was a major e-commerce giant with thousands of employees, operating its own stores and connecting with multiple factories. While the product sales were managed by the company itself, the goods were shipped directly from the manufacturers, with the company earning “operational fees,” and the business had been doing well.

The Wenzhou company was involved in a crime syndicate using malicious negative reviews to suppress industry competition on e-commerce platforms, known as the “online water army.”

Members of this syndicate were apprehended in Wenzhou, Hangzhou, and Yiwu, and 17 work computers and 16 mobile phones were confiscated.

Behind this case lay hidden the “grudges and vendettas” of the e-commerce network.

Song Changqing’s umbrella factory had previously hired an operations staff member named Liu Dongdong (alias). Under his operations, a certain model of automatic umbrella at the factory became a “best-seller,” securing the top spot in the umbrella category. Liu Dongdong had previously left a company in Wenzhou with resources, contacts, and experience.

Liu Dongdong said that the previous company had many operations staff, but the boss paid them very low wages. As a result, these staff members resigned one after another. However, he did not expect that the former company’s boss was so resentful about the employees leaving that he sought revenge against them.

It turned out that the “second in command” at the Wenzhou company, Mr. Chen, discovered that the products originally ranked first in the category by their company were being pushed down, replaced by products operated by departing personnel.

In a fit of rage, Chen and the boss decided to “hunt down” these products ranked at the top of the category. They issued instructions in the company group chat: “Everyone, identify those who left and are now operating similar products elsewhere. For each one found, eliminate them. Once they are removed, we can reclaim the top spot in the category. Discover one, obliterate one, by any means necessary.”

Following the directive, the Wenzhou company hired “brush hands” at a rate of around 8 yuan per order, specifically targeting staff who had switched from their company and continued to operate similar products, as well as businesses that had reached the top spot in their respective categories on other e-commerce platforms, posting negative reviews against them.

This syndicate had accumulated over 10,000 negative reviews against more than 100 businesses, infringing upon the financial interests of these merchants. As of now, all 17 suspects involved in the case have been taken into custody on charges of disrupting production and operation.