Website Selling Life Experience Tips

A website selling life-experience tips offers about 4,000 “know-hows.”

Some tips on starting a company including running a restaurant costs far more than 10 million won, but most tips on the site are about practical information for everyday life that sellers learned from their own experience and cost just about 10,000 to 20,000 won. You can find “niche tips” that are not found in books such as “how to select a good wine for you”; “how to feed beans to kids”; “how to get to a destination fast on a subway”; and “how to buy a movie ticket without waiting much.”

Kwon In-suk (38), a housewife, who uploaded a tip to feed beans to kids, said, “I learned it while I raised three girls for 11 years and thought my know-how would be useful for others too. I counsel people by phone to increase the number of beans day by day.”

One man, who claims he has dated with over 200 women though he is not good-looking, offers love life tips on the site. One female college student, who worked part-time at a movie theater for half a year, offers a tip to buy a movie ticket without waiting in line.

Unreliable information, including “how to win a lottery”-

Some know-how tips on the site are unreliable and unhealthy.

Typical examples are: how to win at lotto (5,000 won for five times), how to win money by playing in gambling machines such as Sea Story (9,900 won for one month), online lecture on how to win money in casinos (15 million won for 10 days) and gender-selection tips for women who want a child (50,000 won for one time, 12 month).

Ms. Moon (29, female), who bought the gender-selection tips, was angry saying, “Not to mention it was a fraud, the information was not original.”

According to the Korea Consumer Protection Board, complaints related to Internet information service surged dramatically to 313 as of September 15, a six-fold increase from 52 year-on-year.

Team leader of the Consumer Dispute Settlement Department, Choi Eun-sil urged people to be careful saying, “If buyers bought ways to win a lotto and are considered to want to earn money without working hard, or buy unhealthy information such as pornography, chances are low for them to be redeemed for damage.”

peacechaos@donga.com