The last merchant left without saying goodbye and "ran away", and the new merchant required to recharge before continuing to use the original prepaid card... From February to June 2023, 28 consumers fell into the merchant's "prepaid card" trap in succession. In response, the Procuratorate of Wujin District, Changzhou City, Jiangsu Province, intervened in the investigation and supported consumer prosecution according to law. Recently, after hearing the case, the court made a judgment of "refunding one to compensate three" for the three defendants.

Similar prepaid card consumption traps are not uncommon in life. For example, in 2022, an international travel agency in Beijing will sell travel prepaid cards to the elderly by giving away daily necessities. More than 1000 elderly people will be cheated and the total amount involved will exceed 10 million yuan; In 2023, after a barber shop in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province sold nearly one million yuan of prepaid cards, the volume of money disappeared... In these cases, unscrupulous merchants usually induce consumers to buy cards to recharge by means of ultra-low prices, recharge and cash back. What may follow may be the "shrinking" and "discount" of services, or the "running away" of merchants. In the face of empty people, consumers are helpless and speechless, and it is even more difficult to safeguard their rights.

To prevent prepaid cards from becoming "troublemaking cards" and protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers, joint efforts are needed. Market supervision departments should shoulder their responsibilities, strengthen supervision and law enforcement, and crack down on illegal acts of businesses in accordance with the law to form an effective deterrent. At the same time, we should improve the prepaid card management system, strengthen the supervision of prepaid card funds, and standardize similar prepaid consumption behavior. In addition, consumers themselves should also improve their discrimination, carefully choose prepaid cards to purchase and recharge, and keep relevant vouchers after consumption, in case it is difficult to provide evidence in case of disputes later.

In fact, the chaos of prepaid consumption has attracted the attention of functional departments and some places, and relevant norms and management methods have been gradually established and improved. The Ministry of Commerce has issued the Administrative Measures for Single purpose Commercial Prepaid Cards (for Trial Implementation), and Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu and other places have formulated and issued local regulations and rules on prepaid consumption. The Regulations for the Implementation of the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Consumers' Rights and Interests, which will be implemented in July this year, also responds to people's concerns, stipulating that operators in prepaid consumption should conclude written contracts, not reduce the quality of goods or services, and return the balance of prepayment and other obligations. The Supreme People's Court plans to improve the judgment rules on the subject of responsibility, contract validity, contract cancellation, refund and interest payment, consumption fraud and other issues of prepaid consumption, guide operators to operate in good faith, and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of consumers.

It is expected that with the efforts of all parties, prepaid cards will not And become the "worry card" of consumers, Let more people sure "Prepaid without worry" , consumption with confidence 。