Case Study: “Da Niu Assistant” Location‑Spoofing App, Its Business Model, and Legal Consequences

The author introduces a personal WeChat public account used for sharing short life updates and recommendations, then shifts to a case that serves as a warning for tech entrepreneurs.

Many companies use DingTalk for employee attendance, creating a demand for tools that can falsify location data to evade monitoring. A developer named Zhang (born 1987) identified this demand and built an app called “Da Niu Assistant” to provide virtual location, Wi‑Fi, and photo manipulation for DingTalk and other apps.

Zhang purchased the rights to a virtual‑location program from Shenzhen Luohe Technology, added a recharge interface, and launched the product. The app offered a 12‑hour free trial, a monthly subscription of ¥25, and an annual fee of ¥89, supporting multiple platforms such as Baidu Maps, Gaode Maps, QQ, WeChat, Douyin, and Kuaishou.

From 2017 to 2019 the company grew to 22 employees and reportedly earned four to five million yuan, with over one million downloads. However, the app did not contain genuine virtual‑location technology; it merely spoofed data to DingTalk’s parallel‑space detection interface, bypassing the “Infinite Security Guard” module.

Alibaba’s security team analyzed version 1.1.1 of the Android app, discovered the hijacking of DingTalk’s detection interface, and confirmed that the app injected fabricated device information to create fake check‑in records, disrupting DingTalk’s normal operation.

Following user complaints, Alibaba reported the case, leading to Zhang’s detention on May 31, 2019, arrest on July 4, 2019, and a court judgment sentencing him to five years and six months in prison for destroying computer information systems.

The author concludes that, despite the short‑term profits, the high legal and operational risks—especially under China’s Cybersecurity Law—make such ventures dangerous, and advises tech entrepreneurs to prioritize risk management over potential earnings.