When Parents Join KangAi Commune and Their Children Believe They Are “Being Scammed”

Over the years, KangAi Commune has encountered a number of cases like this. We have mutual-aid programs for fractures and cancer in the elderly, and some elderly members have joined KangAi Commune, fulfilled their mutual-aid obligations under the covenant, and some have kept at it for many years. Then one day their children happen to discover it, and their first reaction is: has our parent been scammed?

So they file complaints, report the Commune for “fraud” in every venue they can, or even call the police, demanding that the platform refund the money and that the authorities investigate.

We have even seen individual cases where, at the urging and insistence of their children, an elderly person withdrew from the Commune, and later, when a qualifying event occurred and the Commune declined mutual aid, this only hardened some children’s conviction that their parent had been scammed — leading to even harsher accusations and complaints.

This is very painful for us.

We fully understand the children’s wariness. There are many scams targeting the elderly in society today, and when you see your parents paying money over a long period to a platform you do not know well, thinking first of protecting them is only human nature.

But we also hope that, before drawing a conclusion, they will spend a little time understanding what exactly their parents have joined.

If an elderly person is of clear mind, understands the basic rules, and is willing to keep taking part in mutual aid under the covenant, then this should first of all be regarded as their own choice. Being old does not mean lacking judgment, and protecting one’s parents should not turn into overruling the choices they have already made.

KangAi Commune, of course, also has a responsibility to explain the rules more clearly, so that elderly members understand them and their families can read, verify and monitor them.

If anyone finds that we have deceived, concealed information or violated the rules, then of course they should complain and report it. But if, simply because the participant is elderly, one presumes that “an old person paying money equals being scammed,” it not only causes misunderstanding but also creates enormous disruption for a mutual-aid community that runs on rules and the joint participation of its members.

We particularly hope that the children of our elderly members will talk with their parents first, and get to know KangAi Commune, before raising doubts.

Protecting the elderly matters, and respecting the elderly matters just as much.

If, in the end, they still believe the Commune has done something wrong, we welcome their oversight, questions and even criticism. But at the very least, let the judgment be based on an understanding of the facts, not on the presupposition that “the elderly must have been scammed.”

That understanding may, perhaps, be a better form of protection — for the elderly, for their children and for KangAi Commune.