Editor's note: Recently, a series of telecom fraud cases have aroused the public's thinking on information security and telecom fraud supervision. How is our personal information leaked? How do scammers weave lies? How difficult is it to regulate telecommunications fraud? Eleven students from Tsinghua University School of Law and other departments used their summer time to visit public security departments, banks, and streets. They used literature retrieval, questionnaire surveys, on-site interviews, etc. to conduct a detailed investigation of telecom fraud cases and the current regulatory situation, and proposed own thinking.
1. Telecom fraud information leakage
In the case of Xu Yuyu , a question that is worth thinking about is how the information about Xu Yuyu’s application for scholarships was leaked. With the development of information technology, telecommunications fraud methods are also "advancing with the times." From the "casting net" method in the early years, common methods such as winning prizes and phone arrears have gradually been updated to the "fishing method". In this way, is a scammer who commits a purposeful and well-prepared crime after mastering certain personal information of the fraud target, such as real estate purchase and sale, loan leasing, education, relocation, etc.
In an era when the Internet has entered thousands of households, netizens' personal information can easily be obtained by criminals due to various factors such as loopholes in transmission channels, increased leakage channels, and poor user awareness of prevention. personal information leakage mainly occurs in the following ways :
A, user terminal leakage
. Different from the strictly controlled Microsoft and Apple mobile phone systems, Android system applications can be obtained through methods other than the official application store. When installing an application, the system will apply to the user for the permissions required by the application, including sensitive permissions such as reading call records, text messages, and location information. However, the vast majority of users do not carefully review the permissions applied for by the application, which largely constitutes the source of privacy leaks.
B and leaked
during the access process. In a wireless network environment, user Internet information poses great security risks. When uses WIFI to access the Internet, , the attacker can use a man-in-the-middle to attack the user terminal and the WIFI gateway to obtain the user's browsing address; he can also intercept the communication HTTP packets and transmit important information (such as login password) in plain text, so it is easy to Leakage; private information such as mobile phone models can also be obtained through other methods.
C, leaked during use
At present, a large number of so-called psychological tests, personality tests, etc. in WeChat Moments have increasingly become a source of personal information favored by criminals. In the process of filling out these tests, users actively provide personal information to the public platform, and through underground sales, this personal information will most likely be resold to scammers. At the same time, during the online shopping process , purchased items, personal phone numbers and addresses may also be bought and sold.
2. Legal supervision of telecommunications fraud
At present, my country's current criminal law does not provide separate provisions for the crime of telecommunications fraud . Only Article 266 of Chapter 5 "Crime of Infringement of Property" of the criminal law of stipulates the umbrella crime of fraud , in Articles 192 - 198 and 224 of Chapter 3 of the Criminal Law respectively stipulate the crime of fund-raising fraud, loan fraud, bill fraud , letter of credit fraud , credit card fraud, securities Fraud, insurance fraud, contract fraud. Article 266 of the Criminal Law stipulates: “Whoever defrauds public or private property, if the amount is relatively large, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years and shall also be fined; if the amount is huge or there are other serious circumstances, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than 10 years and shall also be fined. If the amount is particularly huge or there are other particularly serious circumstances, the offender shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than ten years or life imprisonment, and shall also be fined or have property confiscated."
On April 8, 2011, the "Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate on Several Issues Concerning the Specific Application of Laws in the Handling of Criminal Cases of Fraud" (hereinafter referred to as the "Interpretation") was officially implemented. In view of the difficulty in investigating and handling telecommunications fraud and the difficulty in obtaining evidence, fraud The amount is often difficult to ascertain and other problems that need to be solved. clarifies the legal application standards for telecom fraud cases. provides an important basis for severely cracking down on telecom fraud criminal activities.
Among them, the amount of fraud is often difficult to ascertain. According to the situation, will severely punish telecommunications fraud crimes based on the number of fraudulent calls and messages sent. Article 5 of the "Interpretation" stipulates: if more than 5,000 fraudulent messages are sent, if more than 500 fraudulent calls are made, or the fraud means are egregious, If the harm is serious, you can be convicted and punished for the crime of fraud (attempted). At the same time, regarding the joint crime of telecom fraud, Article 7 of the "Interpretation" specifically stipulates: "Knowing that others are committing fraud crimes, providing them with credit cards, mobile phone cards, communications. Anyone who provides tools, communication transmission channels, network technical support, fee settlement, etc. will be punished as a joint crime. The "Interpretation" also severely punishes those who pretend to be state employees to commit telecommunications fraud. Article 8 of the "Interpretation" stipulates that anyone who pretends to be a staff member of a state agency to commit fraud, which simultaneously constitutes the crime of fraud and pretense, shall be convicted and punished in accordance with the provisions of heavier penalties.
3. Difficulty in detecting telecommunications fraud
Ordinary people often call the police to protect their rights after encountering telecommunications fraud. However, in a field survey of 861 questionnaires in *, most of the defrauded people were unable to recover the defrauded money. 88.45% of the people were unable to recover their money after being defrauded, only 7.59% of the people recovered all the money defrauded, and 3.96% recovered part of the money.
Telecom fraud has the characteristics of multiple methods, strong technicality, fast transfer, and strong concealment. Usually, after receiving a report, the public security agency needs to have detailed transfer records and chat information before it can issue an account freezing certificate to the bank. However, because banks are different in different regions, if wants to query bank user records in other places, it often requires communication and certification between branches. Sometimes inter-bank transfers require even longer communication . During this period, telecommunications fraud gangs often have specialized A group of people is responsible for the transfer, and can transfer the fraudulent money in different directions in just a few minutes, and have a dedicated person withdraw the cash in another place.
On the other hand, scammers often borrow or purchase lost ID cards to open accounts . The account holders know nothing about the facts of telecommunications fraud. Even if the account holder is found, it is difficult to catch the fraudsters. Since telecommunications fraud is often committed across provinces or even across borders, detection requires cross-regional mobilization of police and material resources, as well as certain technical support. Therefore, in the face of the huge incidence rate of telecommunications fraud, the public security organs have limited police capabilities and only It is possible to detect very few crimes, but is often at a loss when it comes to fraud involving smaller amounts and more concealed means.
4. What to do abroad: Take South Korea as an example. During the
survey, the team translated and compiled the relevant regulatory measures against telecommunications fraud in South Korea. Since the necessity of legislation related to telecommunications fraud was proposed at the Korean State Council in 2012, on July 29, 2014, South Korea began to implement the "Special Law on the Prevention of Financial Fraud in Electronic Communications and on the Refund of Damages".
This law stipulates the necessary content of a special law on the prevention of financial fraud in electrical communications (telecommunications fraud) and the return of damages. The legislation stipulates the scope of punishment for telecommunications fraud, including not only general telecommunications fraud crimes, but also criminal law crimes. Crimes of deception, etc., are all subject to the penalties of this law. The legislation also strengthens the responsibilities of financial companies. Financial companies are obliged to confirm whether the name of the account is consistent with the applicant. If a financial company violates this obligation, it will be punished (liability for damages). Finally, the legislation stipulates the scope of work of government agencies and the corresponding measures. It is necessary to operate a "Prevention Countermeasures Council" among relevant departments related to telecommunications fraud (such as police stations, prosecutors' bureaus, financial supervisory services, banks, etc.) to actively respond to social problems and find better solutions. plan, and actively promotes cooperation treaties with other foreign governments and international institutions to strengthen measures to deal with telecommunications fraud.
Currently, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the Ministry of Public Security have jointly launched special activities to combat telecommunications fraud, and require telecommunications companies to strengthen anti-fraud supervision from a technical level and implement real-name requirements. However, in the face of endless telecommunications fraud, our country is in urgent need of improvement, both at the legislative level and at the actual regulatory level. Looking at the world, learning from each other's strengths, improving the system, and strengthening the system will undoubtedly be the only way for us to strengthen the supervision of telecommunications fraud.
* The survey collected a total of 861 response sheets, including 378 males and 483 females. Among the people who filled out the questionnaire, the largest number were those aged between 20 and 30 years old (32.4%), while the number of those over 50 years old was smaller (7.78%). The number of people who themselves or their relatives and friends encountered telecommunications fraud was 303.
