(China Focus Face to Face) Why is it impossible to prevent telecom network fraud? How can "the world be free from fraud"?
China News Service, Beijing, December 13th, title: Why is it impossible to prevent telecommunications network fraud?
How can "the world be free from fraud"?
——Interview with Hu Zhiwei, an anti-fraud expert from the Criminal Investigation Bureau of the Ministry of Public Security of China
China News Agency reporter Guo Chaokai
In response to the frequent occurrence of telecommunications network fraud in recent years, the Ministry of Public Security of China has continued to carry out special operations such as "Card Broken" and "Cloud Sword" to combat and control telecommunications network fraud crimes and effectively curb the spread of electronic fraud.
However, the current overall situation of telecommunications network fraud is still severe. Why is it that telecommunications network fraud is high and difficult to prevent?
How to completely cut off the chained crime of telecommunications network fraud?
How can we achieve "no fraud in the world"?
China News Agency "China Focus Face to Face" invited Hu Zhiwei, an anti-fraud expert from the Criminal Investigation Bureau of the Ministry of Public Security of China, to give an authoritative interpretation of this.
Excerpts from the interview are as follows:
China News Agency reporter: At present, telecommunications network fraud has become the fastest-growing criminal crime. The Ministry of Public Security, in conjunction with multiple departments, made the greatest effort to recover losses. Can you tell us about the progress of related work? In this process, what useful experience and practices did the public security organs accumulate?
Hu Zhiwei:
In recent years, there has been a high incidence of telecommunications network fraud, and fraudulent methods have been ever-changing, causing huge losses to the general public.
In April of this year, General Secretary Xi Jinping issued important instructions on combating telecommunication network fraud crimes, and also issued a general mobilization order to the entire society.
The Ministry of Public Security, in conjunction with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the People's Bank of China and other departments, made every effort to promote the crackdown and governance work, and achieved remarkable results.
From June to October this year, the number of registered telecommunication network fraud crimes fell for five consecutive months, and the rapid increase in cases has been effectively curbed.
We mainly carry out work from the following aspects:
First, with the support of special operations, we must resolutely fight investigations and strikes.
The public security department has always maintained a high-pressure posture of severe crackdowns, in-depth implementation of special operations such as "Great Wall", "Cloud Sword", "Broken Cards" and "Broken Currents", unified command of all localities and integrated operations, and organized 58 national cluster campaigns to effectively combat deterrence. Crime.
From January to October, a total of 450,000 criminal suspects were arrested, 41,000 “two-card” criminal gangs were dismantled, 277,000 untrustworthy persons were punished, 51,000 industry outlets were governed, and 38,000 suspects of illegally leaving the country were arrested.
Second, with the goal of pressure drop and incidents, we must resolutely fight early warning and countermeasures.
We adhere to the combination of combat and defense, take prevention first, strengthen precise early warning and dissuasion, instruct all localities to coordinate all police resources, establish a hierarchical linkage dissuasion mechanism, and make every effort to reduce crimes.
The Ministry of Public Security’s platform issued 98,000 early warning instructions every day, and successfully prevented 20.56 million people from being deceived this year. At the same time, it has stepped up technical countermeasures. Since the beginning of this year, it has successfully intercepted 1.38 billion fraudulent calls and 1.57 billion text messages. There were 1.729 million fraudulent domain names and URLs, and a total of 301 billion yuan (RMB, the same below) was urgently stopped.
Third, take source governance as the foundation, and resolutely fight for personnel management and control.
Supervise and urge key areas to "be optimistic about one's own family and take care of one's own family."
The party committees and governments in key areas carried out in-depth "large-scale platooning, large-scale persuasion to return, large-scale censorship, and large-scale propaganda", and 147,000 people were persuaded to return from education in northern Myanmar.
Fourth, take industry governance as the starting point, and resolutely fight the black and gray industry remediation battle.
We rely on the inter-ministerial joint meeting mechanism of the State Council to promote financial communications and Internet authorities to implement industry regulatory responsibilities, fully plug loopholes, and make every effort to eliminate black and gray products; promote the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology to upgrade "Card Broken Action 2.0", clear 64.41 million high-risk phone cards, and virtual business phone cards 16.41 million copies, and the “One Pass Check” service was launched to solve the problem of fraudulent use of other people’s identities to apply for cards; promoted the People’s Bank of China to organize centralized rectification actions, cleared 1.48 billion risk accounts, and suspended 620 companies with prominent fraud problems Bank outlets, promote the Central Cyberspace Affairs Office to take the lead in rectifying prominent problems in the Internet industry, and strengthen network inspections and technical countermeasures.
Data map: The scene of the Shandong police arresting the suspect of telecommunications network fraud.
Photo courtesy of Shandong Provincial Public Security Department
China News Agency reporter: According to incomplete statistics, in recent years, the public security organs have cracked down on more than 50 types of frauds such as killing pigs and part-time order frauds. What new changes have occurred in the current telecommunications network fraud tactics? Who are the "hardest hit areas" deceived?
Hu Zhiwei: In the
past two years, with the rapid development of network technology, the tactics of telecommunications network fraud have been ever-changing and emerging, and new trends have emerged from telephone calls and text messages to the Internet.
The proportion of online fraud cases has risen rapidly and has reached over 85%.
Its main characteristics are wide coverage, rapid changes, great social harm, and it is particularly difficult to combat. The main deceived groups include "post-80s", "post-90s", college students, overseas students, including financial personnel of enterprises and institutions, and elderly people. People, these are vulnerable groups.
According to statistics, the main types of fraud are cashback fraud, loan fraud, slaughter plate fraud, customer service fraud, and public security fraud.
Among them, the case of rebate fraud accounted for nearly 1/3 of the total cases, and the loss of slaughter plate fraud was the largest, accounting for more than 1/3 of the total loss.
Rebate fraud is mainly aimed at groups who have time but want to make some money.
For example, college students at school want to earn some tuition through part-time jobs. Scammers take advantage of this psychology and attract college students and mothers under the banner of "you can earn one hundred yuan a day with your fingers."
For overseas students, those scammers often use fake number software to conduct phone fraud in the name of Chinese embassies and consulates abroad, or pretend to be school staff, and induce students on the basis of the school’s “new policy” and the establishment of “scholarships”. Make money transfers; there are also various scams such as so-called "shopping tax rebates" and "foreign exchange".
Data map: The mobile phone card and bank card involved in the case seized by the police.
Chen Wenshe
Reporter from China News Service: Some people believe that telecommunications network fraud is a preventable crime, and the post-attack is not as good as the pre-warning. What efforts have the public security organs made to carry out anti-fraud propaganda? What measures will be taken in the future to further improve the people's "immunity" against fraud?
Hu Zhiwei:
Telecom network fraud is a preventable crime. It is better to solve the case quickly than not. Public security agencies across the country strive to continue to create a strong anti-fraud atmosphere in the whole society, and comprehensively improve the public's ability to recognize fraud and prevent fraud.
The National Anti-Fraud Center has launched many measures. One is to open the official government account of the National Anti-Fraud Center to build a new media matrix for anti-fraud propaganda.
The second is to promote the installation of the National Anti-Fraud Center APP, with more than 500,000 warnings every day, building a "firewall" against fraud and fraud prevention for people.
The third is to cooperate with CCTV, Xinhua News Agency, China News Agency and other major media to carry out various forms of anti-fraud propaganda.
Fourth, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the People's Bank of China, and Internet companies have launched a series of online and offline anti-fraud campaigns.
New media propaganda, especially short videos and live webcasts, expose scammers' scams through entertaining and entertaining methods, and are recognized by more and more people through innovative expressions, superior media channels, and efficient communication atmosphere.
As the saying goes, “the people are calling and the police are responding”, the National Anti-Fraud Center uses new media accounts as a breakthrough, relying on platform accounts to respond to the concerns of netizens in a timely manner in response to social hot spots, and we have carried out precise anti-fraud propaganda and achieved good results.
Up to now, the official government account of the National Anti-fraud Center has released more than 2500 short videos, with a total of 2.2 billion views, more than 22 million fans, and more than 100 million likes.
The police carried out anti-fraud propaganda activities.
Photo by Yang Bo
China News Agency reporter: From January to October this year, more than 310,000 telecommunications network fraud cases were cracked across the country and more than 450,000 criminal suspects were arrested. Why does telecommunications network fraud continue to be banned repeatedly? Why is it so difficult to combat electronic fraud?
Hu Zhiwei: The
key to the repeated prohibition of telecommunications network fraud is that telecommunications network fraud is not only a social security issue that can be solved by the public security organs. It is an extremely complex social governance issue that requires the cooperation, joint management, and integration of all sectors of society. Governance.
Currently, regulatory loopholes in the financial communications field are still prominent, and governance in the Internet field has a long way to go. Various online accounts and network technologies are being used by criminals.
The Internet is also flooded with a large number of black and gray industries that buy and sell citizen information, develop technology platforms, network diversion and promotion, and transfer funds for money laundering.
The proliferation of "two cards" is an important source of the continued high incidence of telecommunications network fraud, and the harm is very serious.
On October 10, 2020, the Inter-ministerial Joint Meeting of the State Council decided to carry out the "broken card" operation nationwide.
The "broken card" operation is the key to reconnaissance and combat. It hits the "seven inches" of telecommunications network fraud crimes, and the "real name system" is one of the key moves.
Mobile phone cards and bank cards are necessary tools for crooks. They are not strictly regulated. They are used directly by crooks, or used to register bank accounts and online accounts.
Local public security agencies frequently seized more than one million "two cards" in handling cases, often in tons. These mobile phone cards and bank cards are all "fake real names", that is, "real names are not real people."
If the requirements of the "real-name system" can be strictly implemented, and all real-name real-person operations are carried out, criminals will not be able to commit crimes.
Guangzhou police seized a batch of items involved in the case.
Photo courtesy of Guangzhou Police
China News Agency reporter: In recent years, criminals have moved their criminal dens to Southeast Asia and other overseas regions in order to avoid arrest by domestic police. As the new crown epidemic continues to spread, how do public security agencies effectively combat overseas electronic fraud?
Hu Zhiwei:
At present, in order to avoid domestic attacks, telecommunications network fraud gangs have established dens outside the country. The main targets of crimes are people in China. Therefore, a large number of employees who are familiar with the domestic situation and speak Mandarin are required.
In order to recruit more people, these fraud gangs have transformed the recruitment of personnel to participate in telecommunications fraud into an industry that implements specialized, process-oriented, and group-based operations.
There are organizers, headhunters, horsemen, guides, pick-up drivers and other different roles in the gang. After defrauding their recruited employees into fraud dens, they force these people to engage in fraudulent work.
The actual situation faced by the deceived people is completely different from the high-paying job they imagined and the sudden wealth.
They will completely lose their personal freedom and can only engage in fraud according to the requirements of the fraud gang every day, and they will be brutally punished if they fail or fail to complete the task.
In this sense, these people are both practitioners of fraud and victims of (being) violent control.
Therefore, we must resolutely cut off the criminal chain of overseas electronic fraud dens recruiting personnel from the country.
The first is to squeeze and consolidate the main responsibilities of local party committees and governments, strengthen source governance, clean up black and gray industries, eradicate criminal soil, continue to adhere to the two-pronged approach of “local control” and “education persuasion to return”, and resolutely prevent key personnel involved in fraud from going abroad Commit crimes.
The second is to severely crack down on smuggling crimes.
The public security organs organized and carried out a "cut-off" operation, cut off the flow of illegally smuggled overseas personnel engaged in electronic fraud, severely cracked down on the "snakeheads" that organized smuggling, followed the line to dig deep into the "funding masters" behind the scenes, and accurately attacked and destroyed the organization recruiting personnel to go there. The ecological chain of telecommunications network fraud criminal activities is implemented overseas, thereby effectively squeezing the space for survival of overseas electronic fraud crimes.
Data map: The police escorted the suspects of telecommunications network fraud from the Philippines back to China.
Photo by Chen Lei
Reporter from China News Agency: In fact, fraud is not far from ordinary people. Not long ago, a colleague who had dealt with many electronic fraud articles was also defrauded by scammers of 50,000 yuan. In the eyes of others, these scams and scams are not too far away. Not smart, but there are still more and more highly educated young people recruited frequently. Why is it impossible to prevent telecommunications network fraud? How can ordinary people avoid being deceived and guard their "pocket"?
Hu Zhiwei: It is
better to take precautions after the incident, and to solve the case quickly is better than not committing the crime.
For ordinary people, everyone must always keep in mind that despite the ever-changing scams, they are always inseparable. They all need to get in touch with you through the information network, and use various methods to defraud your trust. The ultimate goal is to make you pay and transfer money. .
It is important to keep in mind the principle of "three-not-one-many", that is, do not click on unknown links, do not trust unfamiliar calls, do not disclose personal information, and check for transfers and remittances.
The public security organs have adopted various measures to protect everyone from being deceived.
We opened the 96110 national anti-fraud dedicated line, and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology developed the 12381 SMS warning function and the flash message function of smartphones.
If you receive a call from 96110, you must answer it; if you receive a text message from 12381, you must read it.
When you receive this kind of call or text message, you or your family are likely to be suffering from telecommunications network fraud.
In addition, please actively download and install the National Anti-fraud Center APP launched by the Ministry of Public Security to learn anti-fraud and anti-fraud knowledge, improve the ability to recognize and prevent fraud, and tighten the string of anti-fraud and anti-fraud at all times.
Reporter from China News Service: On October 19 this year, the draft anti-telecom network fraud law was submitted to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress for deliberation for the first time.
Hu Zhiwei:
Special anti-fraud legislation is very timely and necessary.
In recent years, criminals have used telecommunications network technology, exploited industry regulatory loopholes, used illegally obtained personal information and online black and gray product transactions to commit fraud, organized chain operations, and committed crimes across borders and regions. This has become a social nuisance. It seriously affects people's sense of gain, happiness, and security. It is urgent to further improve the system and resolutely crack down on governance.
From the perspective of practice, there are still many loopholes and weaknesses in the governance of communications, finance, Internet and other industries, which urgently need to be further improved.
A large number of phone cards, bank cards, and online account numbers have been used in fraudulent activities, and there is an urgent need to further regulate management.
A large number of illegal service equipment industries are supporting fraud and crime, and further key management is urgently needed.
The promulgation of this law will squeeze the criminal space from the source, eradicate the criminal soil, and provide a solid legal guarantee for a more powerful and effective fight against crime.
(Finish)