Crackdown on illegal use of bank and phone cards

Police across the country have busted 7,816 criminal groups and arrested about 148,000 suspects connected with the illegal registering and trading of telephone and bank cards during the past three months, the Ministry of Public Security said.

A total of 8,869 business outlets and institutions related to such crimes have been punished since the nationwide operation was initiated by a cross-ministry conference.

Du Hangwei, vice-minister of public security, said at the conference on Oct 10 that the illegal registration of telephone and debit cards is the biggest reason for the high incidence of telecom network fraud, which causes serious damage to public security.

Normal processing of telephone and bank cards in China requires the user to register with a real name and other personal information in person, and information about their communications and money transfers is traceable.

Fraudsters often purchase, rent and borrow phone cards and bank debit cards under other names to avoid being traced and to commit crimes.

Police in Baiyun district in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, arrested two insiders at a telecom operator in late September for illegally registering and trading phone cards.

The police found that when delivering phone cards to clients who placed orders online, the two took advantage of having access to clients 'personal information and registered an extra card with the clients' personal information without permission. They then sold the extra cards for 1,500 yuan ($230) each.

Based on that case, Guangzhou police busted a criminal group collecting and selling phone cards and arrested seven suspects in a case involving over 10 million yuan. The confiscated cards were to be sold to buyers in Southeast Asian countries.

During the past three months, Guangzhou police have arrested about 3,200 suspects involved in such cases. Police also worked with bank and telecommunication operators to deal with 40,000 illegal debit cards and deactivated 1.6 million phone cards.

In December, the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the People's Bank of China stipulated that anyone involved in such illegal behavior would face suspension of bank services for five years, including use of ATMs or online banking services, or using or registering for payment platforms such as WeChat Pay or Alipay.