China Telecom Warns Users against Frauds

Recently， several ill-willed businessmen in Shanghai pretended to be China Telecom’s employees and made use of China Telecom’s IP Cards and long-distance call cards for the door-todoor selling to misguide users， leading to their economic loss.

Therefore， China Telecom Shanghai reminds the users to be careful when people come to your house to sell the telecom packages or related products without appointments. If they have any questions， they can log onto the website of China Telecom or call its customer hotline. Do not believe the explanations of salesmen so easily.

The Fake Rechargeable Call Card

This May， Ms Zhang in Putuo District received a man who claimed to be the worker for China Telecom. He came to Ms Zhang’s home to promote China Telecom’s “17098” business package， saying that certain discounts for long-distance calls are available in this package. In addition， a supplementary card was to be sent for free if the user bought one card. Meanwhile， the communication expenses can be used to pay for the cost of all China Telecom’s communication services.

Taking his words for real， Ms Zhang spent 1000 yuan for the package. The man even issued an invoice and sent Ms Zhang the free communication duration worth 1000 yuan as promised. She even confirmed through callas that the remaining budget of the long-distance call for Ms Zhang’s fixedcable telephone was really 2000 yuan. However， when she received the bill in June， she found that the budget was completely gone.

Ms Zhang called China Telecom’s hotline for answers， but the support staff told her that the card she bought could only be used for dialing the international and domestic long-distance calls and cannot pay for other communication services. In addition， China Telecom has never sent any workers for door-to-door selling. Nor are they allowed to take cashes from users. Therefore， it is very likely for Ms Zhang to meet cheaters in the name of China Telecom.

“These salesmen claimed to be the workers of China Telecom. They at first asked for the information of users and present different ‘packages’ based on the users’ conditions. But what they offer is actually same， just the “17098”cards for long distance calls，” said an employee of China Telecom.

Illegal Access to Internet

“980 yuan per year for 2M broadband and 1300 yuan per yuan for 10Mb broadband.” This is what Zheng Jun offered for his “broadband package”.

Once a worker for China Telecom， Zheng Jun， along with his brother Zheng Zu， assumed the roles as the workers for China Telecom’s broadband department and offered the low-cost broadband package for residents living in the suburban area of Shanghai. In the past 2 years， he has connected 60 household users to China Telecom’s broadband without authorization， causing the loss of 170 thousand yuan for China Telecom.

China Telecom found the abnormality in April and reported to the police， who found and arrested the criminals. According to Zheng Jun， he knew a bit of the telecom business and had the experiences of working for China Telecom. So he organized the business and recruited his brother. He issued the leaflets to promote his business. He even printed the fake Registration Form for China Telecom’s FTTB+LAN Business in Shanghai and made a seal for himself.

He had recruited over 60 users before being arrested. He charged them once every three months， once every six months or once every twelve months. Seeing his growing business， he asked his brother Zheng Zu to help. According to Zheng Zu， Zheng Jun told him to pretend to be working for China Telecom when he went out for busi- ness. The pack he carried to “install broadband for users included two route testers， one pincher， one USB disk， one laptop， one screwer and receipt manuals.

New Measure of Frauds

Recently， someone said online that they could “delete people’s records of accommodation for others” and even“erased the trace from the system of public security department. It is known that this features “payment before services”， but it is a new trick in China.

Before long， some chain hotels were reported to have leaked the information about their occupants. This made some people worry and want their information remain undercover. Therefore， there came out the service of “deleting the records of recommendation”. The price varied to the number records. Generally speaking， the more records to be deleted， the pricier the service is. Some people believed this and paid for the “services”.

The public security department of Shanghai said that they had not received any report yet， but the citizens of Shanghai were still warned against this new trick. According to the police， the criminals built a website showing the QQ number of the “customer service”. With the name of the “investigation company”， they required the users to transfer the money through banks first. After getting the money， they immediately cut off the connection with customers.

There are also other forms of frauds， some of which look ill prepared but can still lure some people into the trap. China Telecom warned that it would never charge the users without the official channel. The police also reminded users to be more careful and do not easily believe what others said.