Customers were threatened by an online vendor, who said that they would receive a bad omen if they did not leave favorable comments about his talismans on taobao.com, China's largest e-commerce platform.

The customers had asked the vendor, Luo Shun, for a refund after the talismans said to be blessed by feng shui masters failed to bring them good fortune.

But Luo said that he could not refund their purchases because the charge of the talisman had been for a "good deed" and returning that positive would bring about a negative for them.

Luo had used falsely accredited I Ching titles to draw customers to his shop to sell the items. In the scam, he managed to sell 17,826 of them, making 10 million yuan ($16.3 million) from unsuspecting customers since opening his Hunan Province-based online store in October of last year. With 160 different types of talismans, he sold each for 38 yuan to 5,888 yuan.

Experts are warning consumers to be more wary when purchasing such items and to verify accreditation in the future to avoid being caught up in such scams.

xinhuanet.com