Counterfeit products of well-known Internet companies, falsely claim that it can cancel campus loans and eliminate bad credit records
new online loan scams focus on young people
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What is different from the past is that in these new online loan frauds, criminals no longer just stare at the elderly’s pension savings, but target undergraduates or young people who have just started work. After defrauding the loans of these young people, it also puts them under pressure to repay the loan.
In June of this year, Mr. Cai from Quanzhou, Fujian was defrauded of 40,000 yuan when making a loan on the "Micro Finance" app; in July, Ms. Li from Shenzhen Baoan was defrauded of 5,000 yuan while taking a loan from the "JD Baitiao" APP; from Shijiazhuang, Hebei Ms. Liu was defrauded of 130,000 yuan due to the credulity of the "360 Loan" staff... This is the "Online Loan Fraud Public Opinion Data Analysis Report" released by Consumer Network and Beijing Sunshine Consumer Big Data Research Institute on August 12 Reveal the situation.
"Workers Daily" reporter interviewed and learned that "Jingdong Baitiao" APP, "Particle Finance" APP, and "360 Loan" APP, which look like products of well-known Internet companies, are all fake "Li Gui". Chen Xuhui, data director of Beijing Sunshine Consumer Big Data Research Institute, told reporters that after the epidemic has improved, online telecommunications fraud has made a comeback, especially various online loan fraud incidents still occur, and the forms of fraud and criminal methods continue to be innovative.
Scams to cancel online loan accounts surge
Ms. Liu, a consumer in Shijiazhuang, Hebei, who has just graduated from university for more than two years, said that on July 1 this year, she received a call from an unfamiliar man, and first accurately reported her identity information, graduate school, and majors. Information later stated that it had a campus loan account on "360 Loan".
When Ms. Liu said that he had never registered before, the man said that it was possible that Ms. Liu’s identity information was fraudulently used and the account was registered by someone else. If she did not cancel, it would affect her personal credit investigation.
Later, the man used Ms. Liu's QQ number to send him the "360 Company" work card and information related to Ms. Liu's credit, in order to gain Ms. Liu's trust. Under the guidance of the criminals, Ms. Liu downloaded the online loan software step by step according to the request of the other party to borrow. Finally, she borrowed nearly 130,000 yuan from Xiaomi Loan, Alipay Huabei and 360 IOUs, and transferred the money to the criminals.
Ms. Liu's experience is not unique. Since the beginning of this year, there have been a number of frauds involving "writing off campus loans" across the country. The victims are mainly school students or young people who have just graduated to work. 360 Digital Anti-fraud Laboratory released in July this year the "Analysis of Telecom Fraud on Cancellation of Online Loan Accounts in the First Half of 2020", showing that scams on canceling online loan accounts increased sharply in the first half of this year, with an increase of 178% in April. Among them, 63% of the victims had not registered an online loan account before.
In this type of scam, the criminals used the victim’s precise information on the victim’s information and used the victim’s campus loan record as an excuse to affect personal credit. After causing the victim’s panic, they used the name of canceling the campus loan record to induce the victim to visit many websites. The loan platform “disappeared” after depositing the money into the so-called “secure account”. Since the criminals are mainly targeting students or young people who have just started working, they are not well involved in the world, and they are more sensitive to personal credit records, so they are easily deceived.
Fake apps from well-known companies
Mr. Cai from Quanzhou, Fujian is 33 years old. In June of this year, he urgently needs a sum of money for renovation. When he was worried that he had nowhere to raise money, he received a link message saying that he could conduct loan consultation and customer service at "Xiweidai". The other party said that he could obtain a loan by filling in his personal information. At first, Mr. Cai was a little skeptical, but thinking of it being a formal institution, he clicked on the link and downloaded an app called "Particle Finance", and then registered for real-name authentication. The system shows that he has a loan line of 40,000 yuan.
But when Mr. Cai planned to withdraw 40,000 yuan to the bank card, the system prompts that there is a digit input error in the card number and the account has been frozen. Mr. Cai immediately contacted "Customer Service". "Customer service" said that it is necessary to pay 30% of the loan amount to do the flow transfer before the account can be unfrozen.
Mr. Cai then transferred 12,000 yuan of "unfreeze gold" to the other party's account through his bank account in accordance with the requirements of the "customer service" staff. When Mr. Cai continued to operate the withdrawal, the system reminded the error again. It was then that Mr. Cai realized that he had been deceived, and instead of borrowing the money, he had lost 12,000 yuan. After investigation by the police, the "microfinance" loan platform Mr. Cai encountered was counterfeit software.
Not only Weiweidai, but the person in charge of finance immediately told reporters that the company has recently received feedback from many consumers that they have also encountered such fraud cases. Recently, Lexin assisted Zhejiang police to successfully uncover three gangs suspected of providing illegal SMS services for counterfeiting APP crimes. After preliminary investigation, the above suspects have sent tens of millions of fake APP fraud text messages since February this year. "Zhongzhao" financial institutions and platforms include China Construction Bank, China Guangfa Bank, JD Finance, Installment Music, Paipaidai, etc.
Need for a coordinated attack
"There are three main steps in such fraud cases. The first step is to trick downloads. Scammers usually use fake base stations to fake official numbers and send fraudulent text messages containing registration links to users, or use fake financial institution customer service to induce loan demand Of customers download fake APP; the second step is to commit fraud. When the victim downloads the fake APP, the scammers will use the so-called cost, unfreeze fee, security deposit, security deposit and other methods to induce the victim to transfer money to certain accounts ; The third step, after arranging money, directly block the victim." Immediately, the person in charge of finance said.
"In addition to the above two more common scams, there is also the'eliminate bad records' scam. This kind of scam conducts scams in the name of paying fees to help consumers eliminate bad credit records. When the victim makes a payment, the criminals It was delayed due to reasons such as review, and then lost contact." Chen Xuhui said.
In addition, Chen Xuhui said that the scams of "online loan brushing" have also increased in recent years. This kind of scam mainly refers to criminals taking advantage of the victim’s part-time job to make money, falsely claiming to find the victim to engage in "online loan and ordering" business, and only need to use the identity of the victim to make online loans. The resulting principal and interest are both The other party will repay and pay the victim a certain commission to induce the victim to register on the online loan platform and apply for a loan. After the loan was applied for, the criminals took the loan as their own and lost contact immediately. The victim not only cannot make money, but also has to repay the principal and interest of the loan.
Relevant experts pointed out that with the development of science and technology and the emergence of new things, the methods of online telecom fraud have been constantly updated. Unlike traditional fraud, the entire operation of online loan fraud is completed in a virtual space, making it more difficult to combat. Therefore, consumers must increase their awareness of prevention, and relevant departments should also strengthen the promotion and popularization of financial fraud prevention, so as to keep more consumers away from online fraud.
"Currently, the financial sector is the hardest hit area for cyber hacking, and it is difficult to fight against it. It requires a coordinated crackdown and joint rectification at the levels of laws and regulations, market transactions, technology, and corporate management." Chinese People’s Public Security University Police Information Engineering and Cyber Security Said Yuan Deyu, a doctor of the college.
360 Digital Information Security Expert Wu Yechao pointed out that online fraud is related to personal information leakage. In the financial industry, personal financial information has a high data value, and the problem of illegal information transactions is particularly serious. The protection of users' personal information not only requires financial technology companies to strengthen internal control and management, but also requires the industry to create a data security ecosystem with the police, legal circles, universities, and laboratories in response to the inability to restrict third-party data management.
Yang Zhaokui
Yang Zhaokui