Shanghai police reveal the latest Internet frauds

Source:Global Times Published: 2016/7/11 17:58:01

The Internet crime rate in Shanghai has risen by more than 10 percent from last year. Photo: IC



Found a high-paying job with few requirements on the Internet? Or been offered tickets to a sold-out concert? Be very careful! Three new forms of Internet fraud have emerged recently, the Youth Daily learned at a press conference with the Shanghai Municipal Public Security Bureau on Thursday.

In the first half of 2016, a total of 124 Internet scams were uncovered by police and 427 people were arrested. The Internet crime rate had risen by more than 10 percent from last year.

In April 2016, Shanghai police received a complaint alleging that a hotel management company had faked job interviews to extract money fraudulently.

Special investigation

The police immediately organized a special investigation into the company, and during this, police discovered that from January 2016 to April, this company had posted on popular platforms like 58.com, ganji.com and Baixing.com, advertisements offering jobs as drivers, warehouse workers and waiters. A gang used the well-paid jobs from the conpany as bait and contacted job seekers for interviews by making phone calls or sending text messages.  But the interviews were always conducted in temporarily rented offices or in karaoke bar rooms.

The fraudsters made it all look credible with interviewers and coaches and the interviews seemed to be conducted in a professional manner. Except that there were never any real jobs and during the interview the applicants would be asked for money for deposits, training fees or bribes. The amounts varied from 500 yuan ($74.82) to 20,000 yuan. Police said victims had lost about 600,000 yuan.

In May the investigators launched raids on premises around Shanghai, including Huangpu, Xuhui, Hongkou, Yangpu and Putuo districts arresting 40 people. One of the gang arrested was 25-year-old Zou from Jinxian, Jiangxi Province.

The police broke into two secure rooms in Xuhui and Yangpu districts and seized a large number of cellphones, fake labor contracts and POS terminals.

During the trial Zou and other defendants admitted that they had conducted more than 100 fake interviews in Shanghai since January. At present the trials of Zou and another 25 defendants are continuing.

Gao Ming, information security director for Baixing.com, said his website tried to check information provided using technology and experts. The website relies on accurate registrations, real name certification and users' reports to maintain information security.

Hacking for loans

The Internet security department of the Shanghai Police recently received a complaint from a business owner using an online shopping site. The user's account had been hacked and used for a fraudulent loan application. The business owner reported a loss of 1.4 million yuan, which included his own original loan application. Police quickly set up a task force to investigate this.

This case turned out to involve 26-year-old Zou from Zhanjiang, Guangdong Province. Zou was a customer service officer for a website and knew how the system worked. At first he tried to guess the usernames of merchants' accounts for online shopping sites. Then he began hacking and collected business registration licenses, bankcards, and other information. Later he completely took over some accounts by changing phone numbers and passwords and removing password protection.

Finally using the merchants' names he submitted loan applications using the fraudulently obtained electronic company seals. He transferred the loan money to a friend, surnamed Lin, and other accounts and finally transferred it to his own personal account.

The task force arrested Zou in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province and he confessed to embezzling the victim's loan of 406,800 yuan from the online shopping site as well as obtaining 995,100 yuan in a loan in the victim's name.

At present Zou is being held by the Songjiang People's Procuratorate, and the case will be heard presently.

In April a Mr Ye complained to Shanghai police that after paying 3,000 yuan for tickets to Jay Chou concert tickets through Alipay, he did not receive the tickets and could not contact the seller.

Police eventually arrested Fang, a 25-year-old man from Lishui, Jiangsu Province. He had put his WeChat contact details on Weibo announcing that he was selling tickets for Jay Chou's concert. Ye added Fang to his WeChat account after seeing the message and agreed to pay 3,000 yuan for two tickets.

Following that Fang sent Ye photos to show that he had posted the tickets. Ye believed him and transferred the 3,000 yuan. But then Fang blocked Ye on WeChat and disappeared with the money.

In May police arrested Fang in Zhejiang Province. He admitted he had been running the ticket fraud since March and had collected 13,400 yuan.

At present, Fang is in custody as his case is further investigated.

Police advise

Be careful with online job advertisements. Don't trust job advertisements that offer a high salary but have few requirements. Be especially careful if interviewers ask for money for any reason.

Online storeowners should have usernames that are different from the store names and should change passwords regularly. To make it difficult for hackers do not use public Wifi to log in to accounts.

Purchase concert tickets only from official sources. Don't trust online sellers and never transfer money to strangers.

Compiled by Zhang Qin based on a story from the Youth Daily
Newspaper headline: Being wary on the web


Posted in: Metro Shanghai, City Panorama

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