That smile might have cost him 20 yuan. (Photo/Xinhua)To help equip China's bachelors against the annual onslaught from their parents over Chinese New Year, some online shops are offering "rent-a-girlfriend" services to give single men someone to take home to meet the family for the holidays, forestalling the tiresome questions about marriage for another year. Yet not long after they began popping up on the web, the "girlfriend" schemes became shady, reports the Shanghai-based Xinmin Evening News.
Entering the search term "rent a girlfriend" on Taobao, one of the largest e-commerce platforms in China, will see you bombarded with semi-pornographic photos and ads for "talking naked."
Typical descriptions include "At your service...you know," or "Pay by the hour, pretty woman's health massage, plays excitedly."
A shop offering the service says on its website that searches for "talking naked" services on Taobao have since been reported and prohibited on the platform. These shops then continue their business by promoting their services under the guise of renting a girlfriend.
It is not uncommon for customers to be blackmailed by the shops with photos taken of them naked on their web cam during the "chat."
WantChinaTimes.com
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