China Arrests 1,500 People for Sending Spam Text Messages from Fake Mobile Base Stations
Chinese authorities have detained a total of 1,530 suspects in a crackdown on spam text messages being sent by illegal telecoms equipment, according to Chinese news agency ECNS.
Over 2,600 fake mobile base stations were seized and 24 sites manufacturing illegal telecoms equipment shut down as part of a massive nationwide operation involving nine central government and Communist Party of China departments.
Spam text messages are a big problem in China. Messages with phishing URLs are used to trick users into giving up private data, while SMS forwarders are used to intercept and steal authentication codes or password reset information from real messages sent by online payment providers to a user's registered mobile number.