Xinhua Insight: Police probe into telecom fraud after two student deaths

Four men have been arrested in connection with a telecom fraud case in east China's Shandong Province, believed to have led to the death of a teenager, local police said Friday.

Xu Yuyu, an 18-year-old high school graduate in Linyi City, Shandong Province, died on Aug. 19 of cardiac arrest after she lost her tuition money to a telecom fraudster.

Xu's mother received a phone call on Aug. 19 demanding her bank account information so Xu could receive a grant for the upcoming college semester.

"The person said we should transfer money to another bank account, and he promised that in half an hour the money would be returned along with the grant of 2,600 yuan," said Xu's mother.

Xu deposited 9,900 yuan (about 1,500 U.S. dollars), which her family had saved to pay tuition for her upcoming freshman year, to the bank account. When she called the number back, it was out of service.

Xu and her father went to the police to report the theft.

"My daughter was so shocked and sad when we came out of the police station. She was sitting in my tricycle and when I turned back to check on her, she had collapsed on the tricycle," said Xu Lianbin, her father.

Xu died of cardiac arrest 11 days before she was supposed to begin studies at Nanjing University of Post and Telecommunications, where she was admitted as an English Literature major.

Xu's mother is disabled, and her father works at a construction site. It took the family a lot of work to raise enough money for her first year tuition, and losing it all was unbearable, Xu's relatives told Xinhua.

Xu was not the only victim. Just a few miles away, another student, Song Zhenning, died of cardiac arrest on Aug. 23 after he was conned out of money in a similar scam. A third scam was also reported in the city.

The cases have aroused public anger. Linyi police have established a special investigative team to find the scammers.

RISING FRAUD

Police said education-related fraud is common between July and October. The calls are directed at high school graduates and college students, who are typically promised grants, reimbursement or aid. The scam that targeted Xu fits this pattern, said Lu Liang, an economic crime investigator in Jinan City, provincial capital of Shandong.

The mobile phone number the scammer used to call Xu's phone belonged to a virtual operator, which rents networks from China's major telecom operators.

Critics say virtual operators have become a hotbed for telecom fraud.

"These virtual operators need to improve management and prevent use by con artists. Police and operators should cooperate better," said Liu Junhai, a law professor at Renmin University of China.

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology on Friday said it would look more closely at the activities of virtual operators.

An anti-telecom fraud center was established in central China's Hunan province this month. Police, bank staff, employees of bank card service provider Union Pay and telecommunications operators work from a single office. The center allows authorities to quickly respond to fraud by halting transactions, freezing bank accounts, investigating and blacklisting phone numbers used by scammers.

SAFETY NET

Linyi police are also investigating whether other personal information was compromised.

Liang Shan, a lawyer in Jinan, said there are too many ways in which personal information may be leaked and used for illegal purposes. Students spend a lot of time online but their safety awareness is often poor.

Gaming websites, online shopping sites, train tickets, and bank account documents carry important personal information such as identification numbers, phone numbers and names, and can be a great source of information leaks and theft, she said.

China's criminal law stipulates that infringing upon personal information is punishable by up to seven years in prison. However, these crimes are hard to trace and difficult to prevent.

"We should create a safety net around ourselves and raise our awareness," said Liang. Endi