Chinese App Used to Hire Thugs to Beat People up Gets Taken Down

Chinese App Used to Hire Thugs to Beat People up Gets Taken Down
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Editorial Staff
April 20, 2015
A Chinese mobile phone app called “Didi Da Ren” has been removed from Chinese app stores because people were using it to arrange assaults from hired thugs.
According to Want China Times, users would post listings seeking a thug to hire — with ideal candidates being gym coaches, retired soldiers, gangsters and crooks.
Where the idea came from
The idea for the app started with a satirical video released by an online talk show depicting helpless nurses and schoolgirls enlisting bodyguards through an app to beat down their bullies.
Testing the app out
A reporter from Kunming, China, tested out the app by putting up a fake listing. He was eventually sent a phone number of a thug in Shanghai. The man claimed that he could put anyone in the hospital and that his pricing would depend on how much bodily harm was to be caused. His pricing ranged from 200 to 500 RMB ($30 to $80), and he required a photo of the victim along with a time and place they could be encountered. The man also required his assaults to be booked two days in advance, and he accepted online payment to be sent after he fulfilled his job.
According to Shanghaiist, assaults were not the only illegal activities sought after on the app. There were also listings for paid one-night stands.
The app reportedly had 40,000 downloads before it was removed from app stores. The company who created the app, Changsha Zhang Kong Information Technology Limited, explained that they never intended for the app to be used for illegal activities and had told their staff to moderate any listings soliciting violence and prostitution.
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