Police officers examine the articles involved in the internet-based pyramid-style schemes in Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong province on April 13, 2017. [Photo/Chinanews.com]

LI WENXING, a college graduate from a farmer's family in Dezhou, East China's Shandong province, was found dead in Tianjin on July 14, having moved there to take up his first job after graduating less than a month ago. Beijing News comments:

Li's parents said that after he went to work for a company in Tianjin he seemed like another person. Although the police investigation has yet to reach a conclusion, testimonies suggest that Li's death was directly related to his "employer", which was not a science and technology company registered in Beijing, as stated on the recruiting website zhipin.com, but rather a pyramid scheme.

If that is the case, it will only be matter of time before the police crack the illegal organization. However, the recruiting website must also be held accountable for not verifying the legitimacy of the company.

Job seekers such as Li trust the website, as they believe these platforms are legal and well-supervised. But registering a website with the business and cyberspace authorities as required by the law, although it makes the website legal, does not mean the website is well-supervised or well-behaved. Lowering the threshold for advertisers directly reduces the website's operational costs. But doing so provides shady "companies" with the legal means to prey on fresh targets. To some extent, if the company was involved in illegal pyramid-selling, the recruiting website was its accomplice in Li's death.

College graduates should raise their self-protection awareness and check their potential employers are legitimate before taking up a job.