Universities move to educate students about telecom fraud

Universities are taking various measures to warn new entrants about telecom fraud following a recent tragedy in which a college-bound student died after being cheated out of tuition fees which her family had spent months raising.

Xu Yuyu from Linyi, Shandong province, died after suffering a sudden cardiac arrest on Aug 21, 10 days before she was due to begin university life at Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications. The 18-year-old was swindled out of nearly 10,000 yuan ($1,500).

In the wake of the tragedy, many universities have moved to educate newstudents about telecom fraud.

All entrants to universities and colleges in Jiangsu province will have to pass a computer-based examination, with 60 percent of the content related to telecom fraud. Students who score less than 80 on the test will have to be reexamined, according to Yangzi Evening News.

University students are frequently targeted by fraudsters, with 80 percent of cases in universities involving telecomfraud, RenZuping, director of Southeast University’s security department, was quoted as saying.

In a handbook for new entrants, the university has included special sections promoting anti-fraud measures and giving information on peer-to-peer lending, Ren said.

In Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, universities have also taken measures to educate against fraud, the Guangzhou-based Xinxi Times reported.

Guangdong University of Foreign Studies has erected anti-fraud banners near campus entrances and putupposters near canteens and dorms.

Guangdong Medical University will invite officers from the local public security bureau to give safety lectures this year. “We want to teach students some anti-fraud skills, especially those related to telecom fraud, and improve students’ anti-fraud awareness,” Ru Zheng, head of the university’s security department, was quoted as saying.

The university will set up a special column to promote anti-fraud awareness via instant messaging platform WeChat.

In addition to anti-fraud education, the city’s JinanUniversity will send messages to students detailing the latest fraud cases.

In order to combat telecomfraud, Japanese police have strengthened links with banks and take a variety ofmeasures including monitoring abnormal bank account transactions, requiring identity cards when banks transfer more than 150,000 yen ($1,470), allowing only one account per person in each bank, limiting single and daily transfer amounts atATMsand prohibiting the transfer of bank accounts.

The United States established a national registry where people can register their home or mobile phone. Any calls to these numbers — with someexceptions such as for charitable organizations and political groups— are regarded as illegal. Recently, theUS FederalCommunicationsCommission also urged telephone companies to provide consumers with free automatic call interception technology.

Germany’s personal credit network contributes to the prevention of telecommunications fraud. When people open a bank account, their identity cards, fixed telephone, workplace and other information are kept on record and reported to Schufa, a credit information processing agency.

CHINA DAILY HAO QUNYING / FOR A worker from the Handan Branch of Agricultural Bank of China tells new students how to distinguish telecom fraud at Hebei University of Engineering on their first day at the school.