A case of a stolen identity was revealed after the victim found that someone used Liu Hongli’s details to obtain a household registration, or hukou, in Beijing. It took 11 years before the identity theft was discovered.
China Daily reported that Liu, a teacher who lives in Xiangcheng, Henan Province, discovered her hukou was void when she tried to apply for a bank loan in September. Her household registration was moved to Beijing by a Cheng Yuanyuan.
It turned out that Cheng obtained her hukou in January 2005 using Liu’s university certificate. A year before, Liu’s friend borrower her university certificate to apply for a job for Cheng, a relative of Liu’s friend. Besides using the certificate, Cheng also used Liu’s personal information to falsify her application for household registration.
When the Public Security Bureau of the Dongcheng District discovered what Cheng did, it cancelled the woman’s hukou, while the Xiangcheng police issued Liu a new household registration. Cheng is being investigated.
The household registration is a requirement among Chinese citizens and determines a person’s access to education and other social services in the place where their hukou is registered. Children of residents of Beijing without the hukou could attend public school but must pay a fee. However, they would not be eligible for college entrance exam.
Under a draft legislation issued by Beijing in December, migrants could still secure a hukou in the capital city if they meet certain conditions. Following the State Council’s call for a reform of the hukou, 29 province-level regions have made known plans to reform their household registration system as part of the planned unified households registration system in urban and rural residents, reported China.org.