Many telephone harassment cases include cellphone-based fraud. (Photo : Reuters)
Experts are calling for the Chinese government to put into place effective legal protection system that would give the citizens some form of protection against telephone harassment.
This proposal came after a survey showed that just in the last three months of 2014, over 9 billion spam calls were made across the nation.
A survey carried out by a leading Chinese mobile phone service company revealed that telephone harassment has become a serious problem in the country. The report showed that most phone harassers are residing in the Guangdong Province. On the other hand, victims are usually residing in Beijing.
Because of this newly revealed dilemma, Hu Gang, secretary-general of China Internet Society Research Center, calls for lawmakers to form a new regulation as a response. Those who are carrying out cellphone-based fraud should be held responsible for the nuisance they are causing.
"The Consumer Protection Law could be interpreted by the People's Congress using their legislative powers. If people receive cold calls which they have clearly refused before, the caller may face a 500-yuan fine. This kind of legal system can both ensure the normal operation of telephone marketing and protect the legal rights of cellphone users," the proposal reads.
Most of the victims claimed that they were often misled to think they won something and have done something prohibited and needed to pay. Many also said that they were usually victimized by callers posing as their friends or families asking for money. Some even said that these callers act as if they are government officials and scammed the victims to send money.
