Cyber criminals target China's huge online population

[Darknet]

Cyber criminals target China's huge online population

Staff Reporter 2015-09-01 09:13

A photo-illustration of internet crimes. (Photo/CFP)

The huge size of China's internet user population — 668 million – has created massive opportunities for cyber criminals, with online fraud cases surging over 30% annually between 2011 and 2014, according to the Beijing-based Legal Daily.

Data from the China Internet Network Information Center showed that the country's online population reached 668 million in June, offering a big pool of targets for cyber criminals, the paper said.

The number of fraud cases surged from 100,000 in 2011 to 400,000 in 2014, and the financial losses caused by online fraud in 2014 were estimated at over 10 billion yuan (US$1.57 billion), according to the Ministry of Public Security.

Web portal Tencent's most recent annual report on cyber crime said that criminals involved in illegal online activities have become more organized.

Cyber criminals are also increasingly targeting mobile phone users, and nearly 200 million phones have been hit by malicious software, the Tencent report said.

The growing attacks on online databases have allowed fraudsters to acquire personal information that helps them target and reach victims more easily, Tencent said.

The Legal Daily also said there is a group of people who work upstream, creating and selling fake online accounts and identities. Since the law does not clearly state that creating and selling fake online accounts is illegal, hundreds of thousands of people work in this gray area, the paper estimated.

Fake accounts can be sold for a few yuan and cover major online services in China, including e-commerce sites Alibaba and JD.com, social networking services offered by Sina and Tencent, game websites and even the ride-hailing app Uber, the report said.

Other criminal activities include conducting fake online marketing or recruitment campaigns to collect user data, sending fraudulent offers through e-commerce sites and stealing traffic from other websites, the paper said.