Several years ago, many people received text messages telling them that large purchases had been charged to their debit or credit cards in other parts of the country. They were given a number to call if they had questions, which of course they did.

I received such a message during the National Day holiday one year and called the number, because the banks were closed. I grew suspicious when I found myself talking to someone speaking Cantonese about a purchase I was supposed to have made in Taiyuan, Shanxi province.

It was a scam, of course, as I soon discovered by checking it out on the Web. But many people lost tens of thousands of yuan apiece after following the scammers' instructions to put money in a "secure account".

Despite police efforts and public campaigns to increase people's vigilance, such scams continue unabated. Over the past few months, my husband and I have received a number of suspicious phone calls.

One caller, again speaking Cantonese, claimed to be a friend of mine and said he was in serious trouble in Shijiazhuang, Hebei province, and needed money.

Another, speaking a Taipei dialect from a number that obviously came from outside the Chinese mainland, told me that I was in arrears on my phone bill by an exorbitant amount.

Yet another, a digital recording, warned me that a local court was about to serve me with a summons.

Early this week, a caller telephoned my husband, saying that someone had paid him to break my husband's leg. My husband hung up before the caller could ask for a payoff.

I'm happy to say we did not fall for any of these scams, but many people - particularly the elderly - have not been so lucky.

I stayed overnight in a hospital in February, sharing a room with a 60-year-old retired accountant. She told me how she almost gave a scammer her ID and bank account numbers after he called her repeatedly, saying her phone would be cut off and she would be hauled into court if she didn't pay for phone calls other people had made in her name.

"I had no one to turn to, and no way to verify his story," she recalled.

I understand that police have worked hard to crack down on telephone scams. Notices have been posted in every branch bank, warning people not to reveal their personal information to callers.

Quite a number of gangs have been busted, including four Hong Kong suspects who made 23 million yuan in a year's time by telling victims they owed money to telephone companies.

However, I don't think the telecommunication companies, law enforcement agencies, or the government have done enough to safeguard people's personal information and protect common people from these swindlers.

In a recent case, a scammer in Guangzhou was found to possess 126 pages of people's personal phone numbers, along with six cell phones, seven cell phone cards and a notebook containing 13 bank account numbers.

A lot of people have been shocked to learn that their personal information has been offered for sale after they purchased a car or made some other major purchase. Soon afterward, they were harassed by telemarketers selling insurance, antiques, housing or hotel packages.

No wonder many people are reluctant to cooperate with national census takers, for fear that their personal information will be disseminated, despite the census bureau's assurances to the contrary.

It is time for police and other agencies to take more effective measures to prevent these scammers from taking advantage of innocent people.

The author is assistant editor-in-chief of China Daily. She can be reached at lixing@chinadaily.com.cn.

(China Daily 10/15/2010 page8)