New Type of 'Scale Cheating' by Filling with Ice to Deceive Weight
Netizens Criticize, "Blaming Contaminated Water After This?"
There is controversy over claims that a seafood market in the Seoul metropolitan area deceived customers by filling the king crab carapace with ice to increase its weight.
Fish columnist Kim Jimin posted a video titled '"Sneaking ice inside the carapace..." How can they be so bold if this is such a habitual practice?' on her YouTube channel on the 25th.
The video contained a story from a whistleblower who felt they were subjected to "scale cheating" at a seafood market located in the metropolitan area. Scale cheating refers to a method where seafood market merchants deceive customers by manipulating the weight of the basket holding the purchased sashimi or pressing the scale out of view to charge a higher price.
The whistleblower, Mr. A, said, "I ordered (king crab) via text message, but they filled the carapace with ice and weighed it," and shared a photo, wondering, "Is this also scale cheating?"
The king crab in the photo was priced at 65,000 KRW per kilogram, weighed 2.035 kg, and the total came to 132,300 KRW.
Ms. Kim pointed out, "Looking at the size of the king crab now, anyone who sells king crab would know. This definitely does not weigh 2 kg," and added, "If you look at the carapace, it is full of ice."
She continued, "This photo was sent by the merchant to Mr. A saying, 'This is how we measured it.' The fact that they sent this photo so casually suggests that this behavior has become habitual. It seems they do not realize how serious this is."
Ms. Kim said, "To be honest, this is a new type of ice cheating," and added, "Because of merchants who sell like this, other merchants also get criticized."
Netizens responded with comments such as, "And yet they blame contaminated water," "Seafood market merchants, please stop cheating on the scales," "They need to be fined 100 million KRW each to come to their senses," and "They do this because there are no penalties."
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