Finance, gaming and part time jobs top list of online scams in China, with live streaming a lucrative new hunting ground, says report
- As well as online fraud evolving as technology develops, per capital losses have increased more than 10 times over the past five years
The three most popular categories of fraud in China last year were finance, gaming and part-time jobs, with live streaming emerging as a lucrative new hunting ground for scammers, according to a study by an internet security company.
Financial fraud saw the highest number of cases last year – 3,314 in total, according to Qihoo 360. Among the different kinds of financial fraud, per capita losses caused by cryptocurrency scams were the highest at 134,522 yuan (US$19,355). Terms such as “digital currency”, “bitcoin”, and “mining” were all top buzz words used in online fraud.
Scammers also took advantage of popular live-streaming platforms and used buzz words like blockchain and cryptocurrency as “bait” to lure potential victims.
Live streaming platforms were the top channel in terms of losses per capita with each victim losing as much as 134,729 yuan on average, according to the report, although the figure was only based on cases monitored by Qihoo 360.
In some cases, scammers created online live streaming studios under names like “investment guidance” to host so called limited training courses or stage fake events such as stock trading contests. The fraudsters called themselves “mentors” and recommended fake financial platforms to their viewers.
As Chinese society undergoes dramatic changes driven by technology development, more aspects of people's daily lives have moved online, providing fraudsters with new ways of stealing money, and forcing the central government to take action.