Part of the article and police seal bag stores were photographed by reporter Zhaotong Zhao. Although the media frequently exposed some merchants near Xi'an train station who used "porcelain collision" to extort money, relevant departments had attacked many times, but it still hasn't disappeared. Yesterday, I found in an undercover investigation around the train station that there are still merchants doing this kind of business, including mass mailing.
There are still merchants "porcelain colliding"
Recently, a reader reported to our newspaper: There are more than ten stores selling bags on both sides of Huancheng North Road near the train station, which are daily "porcelain colliding", using broken "jade bracelets" to defraud tourists from other places.
Yesterday, I came to the east and west squares of Huancheng North Road train station and conducted an undercover investigation into these bag stores. I noticed that except for three stores that looked relatively regular, the rest of the shops had a table next to them. The tables were covered with cloth, and the cloth was messy with bags and "jade bracelets".
Most of them heard the local accent of the reporter, so these merchants were very cautious. In a bag store at the East Square, a man leaned on a recliner smoking, while a woman looked around. I asked, "Do you have better password boxes?" He didn't even lift his eyebrows and said, "The boss is not here, we don't sell goods."
I went to another bag store separated by a cake shop. Before entering, I heard the noise of bargaining inside. A man and a woman were arguing with two people who looked like migrant workers. Two women at the door stopped me outside the store. A woman wearing a yellow coat said, "We are counting inventory, we don't sell now."
Victims: paid money to leave
I pretended to wait for someone at the entrance of a nearby supermarket and heard the noise from the adjacent bag store named "Bag Store".
"These two jade bracelets are worth more than a thousand yuan, you broke them, you must pay..." "I really don't have any money, and I don't seem to touch the bracelet either?"
After about five minutes, the two men angrily walked out of the store toward the train station.
I chased after them and showed my identity. Master Ren, 41 years old, said he and his colleague Master Xie worked on a construction site in Xianyang. They were both from Chongqing. With the Spring Festival approaching, they bought tickets for the evening train at 8 p.m. on the 22nd to go home. Wanting to buy some gifts for their families, they came to this "Bag Store" to buy a bag. "I didn't touch the table where the bracelets were placed, but when I turned around, I suddenly heard a slap sound, and a pair of 'jade bracelets' fell on the ground and broke. Then one man and three women surrounded me, saying that I broke the 'bracelets' and demanded compensation. The woman in the yellow coat said that each bracelet was priced at 799 yuan and the other at 399 yuan, demanding 1100 yuan before letting me go. I argued for a long time, leaving 150 yuan before being allowed to leave."
Police: Bracelets cost two or three yuan
When I was talking with Master Ren, three unknown men kept following me, so I immediately called 110. At this moment, the woman in the yellow coat ran over, handed 150 yuan to Master Ren, and then crossed Huancheng North Road and fled into Shangjianmen. A few minutes later, the police from the Dongguang Police Station arrived and found that this "Bag Store" had already locked its roller shutter door.
A person in charge of the Dongguang Police Station said that the woman in the yellow coat was surnamed Xiong, the owner of the "Bag Store". She had been dealt with before for "porcelain collision". He said that at the end of October, they had cleaned up and attacked the operators suspected of "porcelain collision" in the jurisdiction. "It is difficult to supervise and obtain evidence," this person in charge said. These operators specifically targeted tourists and migrant workers, and passengers who missed their trains were sometimes pitied for being extorted hundreds of yuan, while others reported the incident without noting the store name. These illegal operators were very cunning, setting traps with fishing lines under the tablecloth, making the means of committing crimes very hidden. In addition, there were dedicated people watching, and once the police and law enforcement personnel were discovered, they would immediately remove the incriminating items. Some merchants would secretly track the victims after receiving money. If the victims showed signs of reporting, they would immediately return the money to the victims, making it difficult for the police to attack. The bracelets used for "porcelain collision" only cost two or three yuan.
Encounter porcelain collision, just call 87415050
Subsequently, the Comprehensive Law Enforcement Brigade of the Train Station Square Management Committee, together with the Front Station Branch, inspected more than a dozen bag stores in the jurisdiction. They sealed and reorganized the "Bag Store" suspected of extortion at the East Square and ordered the bag and jade bracelet operators to dismantle the tables in the store. When the police and staff came to the West Square, all eight bag stores in the West Square were closed.
Captain Guo Bo of the Law Enforcement Brigade of the Train Station Square Management Committee said that there were about eighty or ninety stores around the train station that engaged in "porcelain collision" fraud before. After the joint crackdown by relevant departments, it disappeared for a period of time, but now some stores have started again. Before the Spring Festival, the Train Station Square Management Committee will also cooperate with public security, industry and commerce, quality supervision, price control and other departments to concentrate on rectifying the business order in the jurisdiction and resolutely eliminate illegal operations such as "porcelain collision". He reminded passengers that if they encounter "porcelain collision" or similar situations, they can complain to the 24-hour hotline 029-87415050 set up by the Passenger Service Center of the Management Committee. This article was written by reporter Wang Shihua.
â– Journalist's Notes
Don't let porcelain collision affect Xi'an's image
The existence of cheating and overcharging around Xi'an train station has always troubled passengers and citizens. After several years of management and cleanup, various illegal phenomena have decreased compared to the past. But comprehensive management work is still not optimistic. According to the introduction of the police of the Public Security Bureau at the front station, they received more than a hundred complaints from passengers regarding cheating and overcharging since the beginning of the year.
The train station is the first impression people get when they arrive at a city, and the management of the train station relates to the image of the city. Currently, we are moving towards becoming an international metropolis, hoping that relevant departments will quickly establish a long-term mechanism to completely stop overcharging and cheating, polish the ancient city window, and make tourists from other places not associate Xi'an with words like "porcelain collision".