Fake work attendance app for Alibaba’s office tool DingTalk lands developer in prison for five-and-a-half years

  • Beijing Deniu Technology CEO Zhang Chaojie was convicted of ‘sabotaging computer systems’ for apps that spoofed location and Wi-Fi data
  • The executive argued that allowing some workers to check in late ‘isn’t very serious’, and said the apps do more than just fake GPS coordinates

Coco Fengin Beijing
The CEO of app developer Deniu Technology was sentenced to more than five years in prison for apps that helped users spoof their location on office software. Photo: Shutterstock

The chief executive of a Beijing-based app developer was sentenced to five-and-a-half years in prison for helping tens of thousands of users fabricate attendance records on enterprise collaboration platforms, according to an April court verdict published last month.

The People’s Court of Haidian District in Beijing ruled that Zhang Chaojie, whose company operated apps that faked location, Wi-Fi and photo data, was convicted of “sabotaging computer systems”.

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