Now it’s personal: 32 jailed in China for stealing 39 million pieces of private data
- Criminal gang was started by an employee of a painting and decorating firm who abused his clients’ trust to steal and sell information about them
- Nationwide operation hacked a housing records office in Shanghai and even traded information about mothers and their newborns
A three-year investigation by police in southwest China into personal data theft has ended with 32 people behind bars and several more awaiting trial, state media reported.
More than 50 people were detained by police in Chongqing as part of a nationwide effort to track down and dismantle a criminal gang known to have traded almost 39 million pieces of information over the past seven years, People’s Daily reported on Sunday.
The investigation began when police in Zhong county received a tip-off from a member of the public in 2016, the report said.
During their inquiries they discovered that a gang with at least 50 members was operating across the country, stealing and trading in everything from names, addresses and dates of birth, to ID card and mobile phone numbers.
Much of the information was gleaned by hacking personal computers, but also from local government offices, the report cited the Zhong county public security bureau as saying.
On one occasion, the gang managed to hack into the computer network of the Shanghai Real Estate Trading Centre, which holds personal information about millions of homeowners across the city.