China

Four men charged with massive bulk texting of spam ads

By Zhang Yan (China Daily)
Updated: 2011-01-06 07:54

BEIJING - Four young men who allegedly sent more than 10 million text messages have been charged with illegal business operation by Beijing prosecutors, local media reported on Wednesday.

The idea of profiting by sending bulk text messages was masterminded by a man surnamed Zhou and his cousin surnamed Shao, both in their 30s.

The two had operated an advertising company in Beijing but did not attract enough revenue, the Xicheng district people's procuratorate told the Beijing News.

The cousins then contacted a technology company employee surnamed Xu, who had already involved in the business.

Since all the bulk text message senders they used were antiquated and the sending speed was slow, the three asked a mobile phone recharge card retailer surnamed Xiang for help.

From November 2008 until they were seized by the police in January 2010, the four sent more than 10 million text messages, containing advertisements for real estate projects, private tutoring and information on fake invoice and credit card services.

The accused charged about 300 yuan ($45) for sending 10,000 messages.

"They used a new bulk texting device to send thousands of messages each day, and the cost of each piece was less than 0.03 yuan, so the profit was 20 percent of the money they charged the clients," Ren Lixin, a prosecutor from Xicheng district people's procuratorate, told China Daily.

The accused said they did not know bulk texting required a license.

China has no specific law on the sending of junk messages. However, the country's telecom regulations stipulate that all telecom value-added service providers should obtain a license before starting operations.

Bulk texting that contains advertisements is considered a telecom value-added service, according to Ren.

If convicted of illegal business operation, the four could face five or more years in prison depending on the severity of the case.

By searching words such as "bulk text message" in Chinese, search engines will produce dozens of links to advertisements.

The four men are believed to be the first people to be prosecuted for sending bulk spam text messages on the mainland, the report said.

"Some telecom companies also sent bulk messages for advertisements, and customers usually found no way to file complaints. This situation indirectly promoted the unauthorized sending of bulk text messages, " said Li Sheng, a lawyer from the Beijing-based Yixing Law Firm.

"Sending spam texts has disturbed the regular market order and disrupted people's lives. To solve this problem, the law enforcement authorities should crack down harder on such activities and improve their technological investigation capability," Wu Ming'an, a law professor from China University of Political Science and Law, told China Daily on Wednesday.

Qian Jun, a Beijing-based lawyer, suggested that the government should improve the management of the sales of bulk text message senders to prevent the devices from being illegally used in the future.

Cao Yin and Xinhua contributed to this story.

China Daily