China police busts porn App scam

(CGTN photo)

Chinese police Wednesday said they have busted a ring that used porn videos as bait to swindle hundreds of millions of yuan from victims through a mobile phone application.

More than 100 suspects were arrested in the province of Guangdong where the ring was based. Police said victims used money in their mobile wallet to pay for memberships for an app that dangled lewd video clips, only to find out that they were tricked.

Bank cards and USBs seized from suspects. /Xinhua Photo

Some victims' phones were also invaded by virus through the downloaded app.

Initial probe shows that more than 10,000 people bit the bait every day with the ring's daily income averaging two to three million yuan (about 294,000 to 441,000 US dollars).

Its marketing team was spread out across the country and had cooperation with mobile payment firms.

Laptops seized from suspects. /Xinhua Photo

Police have frozen 51 million yuan in 190 bank accounts operated by the ring.

In the first six months this year alone, police in Guangdong shut down more than 5,270 apps which they considered inappropriate in a province-wide campaign to clean the Internet.

(Source: Xinhua)