The more the merrier: With almost everyone owning a smartphone, scammers are always on the hunt for new victims. (Above) Some train passengers in Shenzhen tinker with their phone on Aug. 23, 2016. (Photo : Getty Images)
Local authorities face the mounting challenge of protecting the public from telecommunications fraud and ensuring that their personal information and similar private data remains private, reported the Global Times.
For some experts, poor security measures enable phone scammers to victimize people. They likewise indirectly blame the police force for inaction.
Recent scamming led to the death of two victims.
Someone conned Xu Yuyu of sending 9,900 yuan in exchange for a scholarship grant. Xu originally intended the money for her tuition fee at Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications in in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province.
There was no scholarship grant in the first place.
Most likely triggered by the outcome of the incident, Xu succumbed to cardiac arrest, according to Qilu Evening News.
Another student, Song Zhenning, lost 2,000 yuan to a scammer. The impact was so strong for Song that the 21-year-old suffered a heart attack and did not survive the ordeal.
Chen Zhonglin, the dean of Chongqing University Law School, said to the Global Times that organizing telecoms fraud involves little money and promises a lot in return.
Therefore, according to Chen, the number of cases of fraud has surged over the years.
Xiang Ligang, CEO of CCTIME Dumbo, a Bejing-based company offering telecommunications services, cites three reasons why public security bureaus seem to have a hard time curbing telecoms fraud: their outdated system, lack of manpower and insufficient funds.
For Xiang, public security bureaus should work hand in hand with telecoms companies and banks to develop a national system that would detect and prevent scams.
Tu Zipei, an information specialist, accuses the country’s mobile network operators of disregarding incidents of telecoms fraud, reported Caixin.
Tu said that these companies rake in billions of money from spam text messages and unsolicited phone calls. They could, according to him, block those unwanted calls and text messages by installing the necessary software programs.
He likewise calls the attention of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology to further look into the matter.
Billions of money already went to telecoms fraud.
On December 2015, one resident from Guizhou Province lost 117 million yuan to a scammer, according to BBC.
Worse, telecoms fraud even elicited a diplomatic row between China and Taiwan in April.
The Ministry of Public Security informed the people in February regarding 48 types of telecoms fraud.
