4,800 held in China since March for stealing personal data
Police say some of the stolen information was used by other criminals for fraud or extortion
Police have arrested more than 4,800 suspects nationwide since March for stealing personal information, the Ministry of Public Security said.
In the more than four months of operations, police said they had resolved more than 1,800 cases involving some 50 billion pieces of stolen personal information, according to a statement released on Monday.
The main source of stolen data was staff at companies and public institutions illegally obtaining and selling information, the ministry said, but there was a growing trend of hackers stealing data from internet enterprises and service providers.
Police said that some of the stolen personal data was used by other criminals for targeted fraud or extortion.
A report yesterday by Shanghai internet outlet Thepaper.cn illustrates the internal risks faced by mainland companies.
The report, citing Jinzhou city police, said staff from a Hebei province branch of a courier service bribed an employee at a Hubei branch to gain access to the company system and obtain personal information to sell on the black market.
The stolen personal data included information such as a list of those who bought certain health care products.
The bribed staffer in Hubei was arrested after the company noticed her frequent log-ins to the customer information system. One of the supervisors at the courier firm was also arrested later, after police found that he was selling clients’ data as well.
