August 26, 2005
Shanghai to register legal names of all mobile phone subscribers
All mobile phone subscribers in Shanghai, new and old, will have to register their legal names with city authorities beginning September 1, according to according to Interfax China.
"Mobile phone and Xiaolingtong subscribers will now need to show their Citizen Identity cards and register their legal names when buying a new SIM card. Telecom operators will be required to confirm and register the legal names of new subscribers in a database.
"Shanghai police began cooperating with telecom operators and banks in the city earlier this August to fight a new wave of fraudulent SMS messages that have been sent to mobile subscribers across Shanghai recently.
The most common of these messages offers to sell narcotics, guns, counterfeit certificates, and other contraband to the receiver, if they will transfer money to a specified bank account. Once money is transferred, senders of the SMS messages disappear."
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