There's recently been an increasing number of reports of telecom frauds in China. As the internet becomes a major avenue for consumption, the leakage of personal information has sparked a public outcry over transaction security. Customers wishing to engage in online transactions are often required to provide personal information.
However that makes customers vulnerable to threats to their privacy and information. Zhao, a university student from Shandong, is one of the victims of identity theft. He received a phone call after he made his purchase online.
The caller claimed to be from customer services, and informed Zhao his purchase was unsuccessful and would be refunded shortly. Zhao was then asked for detailed bank account information and his password.
However, far from Zhao's expectations instead of receiving the refund, most of his savings were withdrawn from his account. Police investigated the case and arrested two suspects.
The man suspected of calling Zhao claims he bought the personal information from information provider Lu, who is in charge of the community's delivery service.
With access to information on a huge number of customers. Lu sold the information at a price of 6 or 8 yuan per piece.
"There's several chat groups online where people look for personal information. There's always demands for information, and we made hundreds of deals online. "
Personal information leakage is severe in the civil aviation industry as well.
Some swindlers use the information to defraud people.
Passengers receive calls from fraudsters pretending to be airline employees who trick them into paying money.
These fraudsters win people's trust because they have all their personal information.
"There are basically three ways where the fraudsters get passengers' information. First, airline employees, ticket agents or even online booking platforms were found to have stolen passengers' information and sold it to fraudsters. And second, hackers can also steal such information from airlines' websites and pass it on to fraudsters in exchange for money," said Zhang Qizhun from China Univ. of Political Science and Law.
To some extent, online payment has made our life much more convenient.
Many services are just one click away.
But perhaps stricter measures should be taken to regulate the data in order to better protect passengers' privacy and safety.
