Ahead of Valentine's Day, a local man has been attracting the wrong type of attention after a website listed him as a woman who provides erotic services.
"I've received more than 100 phone calls asking me if I am willing to make friends, or how much I charge for offering erotic services since January 15," said the man, surnamed Xiao, according to the Beijing News.
Xiao claims website zhantai.com, which publishes classified advertisements in cities like Beijing and Shanghai, revealed his mobile phone number in its friend-match program.
Xiao asked the callers how they got his number, and traced the source to the site, on which he appears as a "single female, 33, who works as a beautician and asks for male friends."
He has contacted the website's customer service to delete his number but has not received any response, Xiao told the Beijing News.
Yesterday, Xiao's mobile number was still listed.
According to the website, one can post an ad for 366 days by paying 10 yuan (US$1.6) There are three categories, house rental, recruitment and making friends, according to the site's introduction, with a disclaimer which says that those who provide information should be responsible for the content.
"We've found cases in which people intentionally publish others' mobile phone numbers to cause trouble for others, however, after verifying, disinformation has declined by 80 per cent," the website says.
No one from the website replied to requests for comment yesterday.
"It may be difficult to judge whether the website should be held responsible for wrongly publishing Xiao's mobile phone number, as Xiao's personal details were not revealed," said Liu Yingjie, a Beijing-based lawyer.
However, if the website refuses to delete a wrong number even after it has been informed, it could be held responsible, Liu noted.
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