The Ministry of Public Security's Cybersecurity Bureau released 10 typical cases of crimes involving the infringement of citizens' personal information on the 11th.

In the case of Yang Mouguo and others, a criminal group was dismantled in Shenyang, Liaoning, which used the guise of "high-paying part-time job registration for business licenses" to commit identity theft. Yang Mouguo (male, 25), in collaboration with Xie Moucai (male, 29), established a work studio. They organized company personnel to liaise with intermediaries, recruiting unsuspecting individuals by offering 200 yuan for the first business license registration and an additional 200-300 yuan upon completion of subsequent procedures. These individuals were brought on-site with their original ID cards, photographed holding them, and used to illegally register e-commerce accounts and business licenses. Yang and his team sold these accounts to downstream buyers for 100-300 yuan each, which ultimately ended up in the hands of criminal gangs involved in gambling and telecom fraud, used for illicit payments or money laundering. The investigation revealed that Yang and others illegally obtained over 3,000 pieces of citizens' personal information, with the case involving over 200,000 yuan. The 27 suspects in this case have been subjected to criminal coercive measures according to the law.

In the case of Cui Mouwei and Ma Mousa, the Gansu Linxia Public Security Cybersecurity Department, starting from a telecom fraud case, successfully expanded the investigation to uncover a personal information infringement case. The criminal group, led by Cui Mouwei (male, 38), used social media and short-video platforms to post part-time job ads under the guise of "monetizing idle accounts." They extensively purchased real-name network accounts from platforms like WeChat, QQ, and Douyin, and attracted people to provide their own and their relatives' phone numbers to register various accounts. These were then resold layer by layer to overseas fraud groups for committing telecom fraud, severely endangering citizens' personal information security and property safety. The investigation found that Cui and others illegally obtained over 20,000 pieces of personal information, with the case involving over 1.3 million yuan. The six suspects in this case have been transferred for prosecution.

In the case of Liu Mouyuan and others, the Anhui Xuancheng Public Security Cybersecurity Department cracked a case involving the use of hacking techniques to exploit system vulnerabilities, build data query interfaces, and illegally sell personal information. Liu Mouyuan (male, 20), along with Wei Mouying (male, 18) and Lin Mou (male, 18), set up a social engineering database on the internet. They provided paid personal information query services to downstream lawyers, private investigators, and information brokers, severely endangering citizens' personal information security. The investigation revealed that Liu and others illegally obtained a batch of personal information, with the case involving over 300,000 yuan. The nine suspects in this case have been transferred for prosecution.

In the case of Li Mou and others, the Sichuan Neijiang Public Security Cybersecurity Department cracked a personal information infringement case. Li Mou (male, 31), in collaboration with another Li Mou (female, 31), posted "order decryption" ads on platforms like Douyin, promoting order decryption services to Douyin merchants. They also instructed Chen Mouwei (male, 28) and Zhou Mouyu (male, 30) to promote these services to e-commerce live-stream merchants on platforms like Kuaishou and Xiaohongshu. The four individuals bulk-collected order data from e-commerce platforms, with Xu Moufeng (male, 38) providing technical support to decrypt the orders, illegally obtaining personal information such as phone numbers and delivery addresses. This data was sold to downstream criminal groups, severely endangering citizens' personal information and property security. The investigation found that Li and others illegally obtained over 2 million pieces of personal information, with the case involving over 8 million yuan. The five suspects in this case have been transferred for prosecution.

In the case of Wu Moutong and others, the Guangdong Foshan Public Security Cybersecurity Department cracked a personal information infringement case. They received a report that a real estate agency's broker data was leaked in bulk, used for targeted marketing by decoration companies. The investigation revealed that Wu Moutong (male, 36), along with Luo Moude (male, 21), used a Guangdong technology company as a cover. They instructed Chen Moujie to join a real estate agency to gain internal system access, then hired Deng Moumou and others to use technical means to bypass the agency's security mechanisms, bulk-crawl broker personal information, and resell it. This data was used by decoration companies for marketing, with Wu's group taking a 2% cut on completed orders, severely endangering citizens' personal information security. The investigation found that Wu and others illegally obtained over 13,000 pieces of personal information. The four suspects in this case have been subjected to criminal coercive measures according to the law.

In the case of Wang Moujie and others, the Shanxi Taiyuan Public Security Cybersecurity Department, starting from frequent "precise marketing" calls from training institutions, cracked a case involving personal information infringement by staff from schools, training institutions, and an eye hospital. Wang Moujie (male, 34), while employed at a training institution, to meet enrollment targets, illegally exchanged and sold student data with staff from multiple other training institutions, including Han Mou (male, 52), Ban Mou (male, 32), Ma Mou (male, 33), Zhang Mou (male, 34), Wang Mou (male, 36), Zhang Mouwen (male, 33), and Cui Mou (male, 36). To gather more student information, Wang also purchased large amounts of student data from staff at several eye hospitals and schools, like Kang Kai (male, 39), Su Baoquan (male, 53), Li Zhenxin (male, 44), and Hou Xiaofei (male, 37), forming a criminal chain of "insider theft, industry resale, and precision marketing," severely endangering citizens' personal information security. The investigation revealed that Wang and others illegally obtained over 500,000 pieces of personal information, with the case involving over 300,000 yuan. The 12 suspects in this case have been indicted according to the law.

In the case of Shi Mou and Huang Mouwei, the Shaanxi Xianyang Public Security Cybersecurity Department, starting from frequent decoration spam calls, dismantled a black market chain hidden in the decoration industry that illegally obtained and sold personal information. The criminal group, led by Shi Mouyuan (female, 33) and Huang Mouwei (male, 29), collected personal information from decoration companies, while also illegally purchasing data from information companies providing data maintenance for government units, service companies involved in government demolition projects, property management, sales offices, and village committees. This data was sold to staff in decoration, home furnishing, and real estate industries, who then further traded and exchanged the information for profit, forming a complex and highly concealed black market chain for personal information, severely endangering citizens' personal information security. The investigation found that Shi and Huang illegally obtained over 6 million pieces of personal information, with the case involving over 500,000 yuan. The 11 suspects in this case have been indicted.

In the case of Dong Mou and others, a criminal group led by Dong Mou (male, 36) established a "Mouxi" shared charging device company. They offered free shared power banks to low-cost hotels, with an agreement to share usage revenue, attracting many hotels. As part of the deal, the group required hotels to illegally provide guests' names and check-in times in exchange for online reputation manipulation services like "boosting positive reviews and deleting negative ones." Using phone follow-ups and illegal plugins, they manipulated online evaluations on multiple platforms to improve their partners' ratings and reduce negative feedback, earning illegal profits. The group operated like a company, with departments for sales, technology, positive reviews, negative reviews, and after-sales, forming a complete criminal chain of "device promotion to acquire resources, illegal collection of personal information, data analysis and screening, and manipulation of online evaluations." The investigation found that Dong and others illegally obtained over 1 million pieces of personal information and manipulated over 100,000 online platform evaluations, with the case involving over 11 million yuan. The 33 suspects in this case have been indicted.

In the case of Xia Mouqiang and others, the Jiangsu Suqian Public Security Cybersecurity Department cracked a personal information infringement case. Xia Mouqiang (male, 38), along with Jiang Moushuai (male, 35), established a "legal consultation" studio. They illegally obtained highly sensitive private information, such as hotel check-in records, vehicle files, and travel itineraries, from overseas social platforms. Under the guise of "legal assistance" and "investigation support," they promoted these services on platforms like Wusong App, Taobao, Xianyu, and QQ groups, selling the data at high prices to lawyers, private investigators, and information brokers. This data was used to gain unfair advantages in divorce, debt collection, and business competition cases, severely endangering citizens' personal information security and negatively impacting judicial fairness and social order. The investigation found that Xia and others illegally obtained over 100,000 pieces of personal information, with the case involving over 1 million yuan. The 10 suspects in this case have been subjected to criminal coercive measures.

In the case of Wu Mou and others, the Zhejiang Zhoushan Public Security Cybersecurity Department successfully cracked a "private investigator" personal information infringement case, dismantling a criminal group that operated under the guise of "private investigations," "marriage inquiries," and "finding people." The group, led by Wu Mou (male, 34), established "Shanghai ** Tanzhen Consulting Co., Ltd." in Shanghai, using platforms like WeChat video accounts and Douyin to post videos advertising "private detective" services, claiming to offer various "private investigation" services. After receiving client requests, they illegally obtained victim information, including travel routes and hotel stay records, by colluding with "insiders" from various industries. They also hired individuals to act as "lackeys" to conduct GPS tracking, physical surveillance, and covert recordings, forming a clearly divided and covert black market chain of "online data retrieval + offline tracking," severely endangering citizens' personal information security. The investigation found that Wu and others provided illegal personal information acquisition services to 12 people through offline tracking and online data retrieval, with the case involving over 1 million yuan. The six suspects in this case have been transferred for prosecution.

Article 253-1 of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China stipulates that selling or providing citizens' personal information in violation of state regulations, if the circumstances are serious, is punishable by up to three years in prison or criminal detention, and/or a fine. If the circumstances are particularly serious, the penalty is three to seven years in prison and a fine. Those who sell or provide personal information obtained during their duties or service provision will be punished more severely under the same provisions. Theft or other illegal acquisition of personal information is also punishable. The public is advised to protect their personal information and report any leaks to the authorities. The "Supreme People's Court and Supreme People's Procuratorate's Interpretation on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in Handling Criminal Cases of Infringing on Citizens' Personal Information" defines "serious circumstances" in Article 5, including illegal acquisition, sale, or provision of personal information, such as selling or providing travel data used for crime, selling or providing over 50 pieces of travel data, communication content, credit information, or property information, or over 500 pieces of accommodation or transaction information, among other criteria.