Retailer fined for personal details leak

A Gome outlet has been fined for leaking personal information, Shanghai's market watchdog revealed on Thursday.

The  branch of the retailer in Songjiang District was found collecting personal information via membership applications and providing the details of about 10,000 members without permission to a science and technology company, the Shanghai Administration for Market Regulation said.

The company then contacted these members for promotional purposes.

The outlet was fined 100,000 yuan (US$15,390) for violation of China's consumer rights protection law.

It was among 10 typical cases violating consumer rights exposed by the administration ahead of March 15 — World Consumer Rights Day.

In another case, E·Meng Air Service, an air tickets agent in Shanghai, had its illegal profit confiscated and was fined around 470,000 yuan for cheating consumers by selling tickets at unreasonably high prices during the COVID-19 pandemic.

It had raised prices of 25 air tickets by about 110,000 yuan compared with those sold by the airlines themselves to cash in on the pandemic, according to the administration.