According to the introduction, the ringleaders of the telecom fraud groups behind the scenes organize and manipulate the entire criminal operation. They hire workers to set up a network platform providing public services, using servers they have altered to send out fraudulent information, make calls, and answer back when victims return their calls. They also employ people to travel between cities to carry loot and transfer it to different accounts, ultimately laundering the money through underground channels.
The main types of fraudulent information and scam calls include winning prizes, financial rebates, overdue phone bills, credit card consumption, disaster shopping, stock fundraising, online trend projections, lottery wins, impersonating acquaintances, kidnapping, and extortion. Criminals often use number spoofing technology to mimic the phone numbers of state agencies or public service organizations. They meticulously plan the scam beforehand, and during the process, they avoid direct contact with their targets. In 2009 alone, in just five provinces—Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, and Guangdong—the losses caused by telecom fraud amounted to over 10 billion yuan.
Telecom fraud crimes are rampant.