Quicker Action Needed on Identity Theft

Over the past few years, China’s prosecutorial agencies at all levels have targeted identity theft. Stolen identities are used to register marriages, apply to register a business and get mortgages, which violates the legitimate rights and interests of the victims. One company was registered to a mentally disabled woman, which disqualified her from getting supplementary income benefits to which she was entitled. However, to track the infringements, some of which go back two decades in the country’s less developed regions, is difficult and time-consuming. In one case of mortgage fraud, it took an elderly couple 10 years to prove their property ownership certificate had been used for a fraudulent loan. To improve the efficiency of legal and administrative procedures, experts suggest a mechanism is needed that can more quickly find and correct these fraud cases.