One of China’s largest online classified marketplaces, 58.com, has been accused of selling graduates’ résumés to third parties, earning over 2 million yuan ($276,517) a year in the process.

According to domestic media outlets, 58.com has been selling the résumés to educational training institutions for prices ranging from 30 yuan to 2,000 yuan. These résumés may then be used by the training institutions to target potential customers for their courses.

The company is reported to have sold résumés that were submitted to the recruitment platform Xinhua Yingcai, which was launched by 58.com and two partners, Xinhua Net and ChinaHR, in June 2022, but is now only operated by ChinaHR.

On Wednesday, Xinhua Yingcai told The Paper, Sixth Tone’s sister publication, that they have launched an investigation into the matter.

It remains unclear whether 58.com has broken any laws. You Yunting, a lawyer at DeBund Law Offices in Shanghai, told NetEase Finance that legality depends on the number of résumés sold and whether there was consent.

58.com reportedly posted job positions that either do not exist or have already expired to get students to submit their résumés. Li Si, a former 58.com sales employee, told NetEase Finance that around 10 companies bought more than 29,000 résumés from 58.com in the first half of 2023.

On China Judgement Online, a court rulings database, a search of “false recruitment information” delivers 567 results, of which 217 are related to 58.com.

The sale of personal résumés by recruitment platforms is not new in China. The practice received mainstream attention at the annual consumer rights gala broadcast on state broadcaster CCTV in 2021, when it was revealed that a résumé from a jobseeker on careers platform Zhaopin could be bought for just 7 yuan.

58.com has courted controversy before, with users having accused the site of posting fake recruitment notices for years.

Editor: Vincent Chow.

(Header image: VCG)