Foreign Media: "Spam Text Vehicles" Enter Chinese Residential Communities, Charging 10,000 Yuan Daily
Foreign media reports that in recent years, China's spam text message volume has soared, with every mobile phone user aware of the disruption caused by dense spam texts. Senders drive "spam text vehicles" through residential communities, carrying illegal yet easily purchasable equipment that can block signals between phone users and nearby communication base stations. They then locate the obtained phone numbers and send spam texts before driving away. Mobile phone users ultimately receive spam messages such as housing offers, investment advice, and tax evasion invoice solicitations.
According to a November 29 report on The Economist's website, Chinese mobile phone users receive more spam texts than users anywhere else in the world. In 2013, they received over 300 billion spam texts, nearly one per user per day. In major cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, users receive 2 spam texts daily, or over 700 per year, potentially accounting for one-fifth to one-third of all text messages. In comparison, Americans were estimated to have received 4.5 billion spam texts in 2011, while total texts sent exceeded 2 trillion.
The report states that China's spam text problem has persisted for years, despite repeated government claims of crackdowns, with little visible effect. Where does the problem lie? The elusive spam text vehicles are partly responsible: law enforcement finds it difficult to track them, and operating them is profitable. A single vehicle can send 200,000 texts daily, charging approximately 10,000 yuan (about $1,600) per day. This roughly equals the cost of the device used to intercept numbers. The device can be assembled at home and can tamper with the sender's phone number displayed on spam texts. Chinese users can report spam texts, as in many other countries. However, occasionally caught spam senders still consider it worth the risk, as fines are negligible. The Chinese government recently proposed raising fines to 30,000 yuan—still a drop in the bucket for spam vehicle teams.
State-owned telecom operators are another part of the problem. They profit at least a few cents from each spam text sent through their networks. In the U.S. and other markets, operators have determined that the cost of dealing with angry customers outweighs the profits from spam texts. This cost includes not only dollars but also damaged reputations. Tom Landsmann of Cloudmark, a company that prevents spam texts, says operators work very hard to block spam rather than relying on regulators to control the issue. Landsmann notes that India has attempted to impose heavy fines on operators that allow spam texts to pass through their networks.
