A recent online shopping incident in Hezhou, Guangxi, China has sparked attention. A woman, after buying a plush toy online, discovered a device suspected to be a camera inside the toy's eye, which left her deeply unsettled.
According to The Beijing News, the incident occurred on the 3rd of this month. The woman purchased a set of 20 randomly sent "wedding throw ring activity" plush toys from an online platform, at a total cost of 47.31 yuan (about 30 MYR). After the package arrived, her child was playing with one of the plush toys when they accidentally dug out a component suspected to be a camera from the toy's eye. The woman immediately realized something was amiss.
She stated that she had not requested any customization services and did not know why she had received a plush toy suspected of having a camera installed.
The woman then contacted the seller. The seller admitted that there are indeed plush toys with cameras in their store, and because the items are shipped as a mixed batch, an employee may have mistakenly included that particular one during packing. The seller suggested the woman return the product.
The customer service of the involved online platform responded by saying that at present, it cannot be confirmed with 100% certainty whether the component is a camera, as no power source, storage device, or connecting wires were found inside the device; therefore, it can only be classified as a "disputed item."
However, to protect consumer privacy and safety, the platform has removed all related products from the affected merchant throughout the supply chain. A reporter’s inquiry revealed that the merchant’s page can no longer be found on the platform.