Fake Signals

Official statistics show that public security organs nationwide recorded 355,000 telecom frauds from January to July 2016, an increase of 36 percent year on year, causing economic losses of 11.4 billion yuan (US$1.7bn). A main factor leading to these frauds was because of pseudo base stations that hijack signals to send out fake text messages. A report by security firm 360 Labs stated that in March 2016, at least 110 million messages from pseudo stations sent to mobile phones were blocked by the company’s protective software, and that 24 percent contained fraudulent information. Nearly 94 percent of fraudsters used caller ID spoofing to pretend to be personnel from banks or public organizations. Experts warned that the mobility of pseudo stations makes them difficult for regulators to detect and that the authorities and telecom operators need to cooperate to stamp out the practice.