How are spam messages sent?

How are spam text messages sent?

The emergence of mobile phones has greatly facilitated people’s daily lives and has become an indispensable tool for communication between people. Many people like to use text messages to communicate with others. At the same time, some criminals did have the idea of ??sending text messages.

When we are out and about, we often receive some inexplicable text messages, such as "junk messages" pretending to be from banks about credit card arrears, mobile phone arrears, selling cigarettes, alcohol, health products, and even pornography, gambling and fraud. Short message". After receiving these text messages, we often have questions: Who sent these text messages and how were they sent?

Replay of the case

Wu Hao (pseudonym) is a "wild" driver who usually earns money by soliciting customers in Chengdu. On the afternoon of April 30, 2017, Wu Hao was soliciting customers at the entrance of the Jinniu District Army General Hospital as usual. At this time, a man from out of town came. The man called himself Liu Hai and said he wanted to take Wu Hao's "wild" to Chenghua District. , Wu Hao asked him to get in the car. On the way, the hospitable Wu Hao started chatting with Liu Hai. While chatting, the two of them talked about the difficult topic of business.

Wu Hao complained that business was difficult. Not only did he make little money, but he also had to worry about being punished. Liu Hai said that he was in the business of making network equipment. He and his friends started a business selling fake cigarette advertisements and invited Wu Hao. When Hao joined, Wu Hao hesitated when he saw that this was illegal. Liu Hai said: "Who can find out about this kind of thing? No one cares about it. I often receive spam text messages, but no one cares about it. Besides, I just send some text messages, but I haven't done anything major illegal or criminal." After listening to Liu Hai's words , Wu Hao was moved: "It's not like I'm selling fake cigarettes myself, I'm just posting a small advertisement. Not only does it not affect the money I make from soliciting customers, but I can also earn an extra 150 yuan a day without any effort. It is indeed a huge profit."

After thinking about it for a while, Wu Hao agreed to Liu Hai. The next day, under an overpass next to the Third Ring Road, Liu Hai installed a device for sending "junk text messages" on Wu Hao's car and tested it. Before leaving, Liu Hai gave Wu Hao a mobile phone and 500 yuan in cash. In this way, Wu Hao's car became a "pseudo base station." The next day, Wu Hao used the "pseudo base station" to continue soliciting customers to make money. Wu Hao thought that although he took some risks, he was very happy thinking that he could earn 150 yuan a day.

What Wu Hao never expected was that he would be caught by the police while he was still dreaming of getting rich. At about 8:00 on May 5, 2017, Jinniu police and China Unicom technicians used professional equipment to seize Wu Hao who was parked on the roadside soliciting customers near the Yangxi Interchange in Jinniu District, and a set of "pseudo base stations" were found from his car. ". This set of equipment consists of a host, an antenna, a power supply, a remote control and a mobile phone. The host and antenna are about the same size as a set-top box used at home. By installing specific software on the phone, you can input any content on the phone when using this set of equipment. Sent to nearby users as text messages.

After investigation, this fake base station sent more than 10,000 text messages selling cigarettes on the day it was intercepted by the police. The greedy Wu Hao failed to wait for the opportunity to make a fortune, but instead waited for legal sanctions.

Legal Interpretation

While mobile phones receive a large amount of information, advertising information, spam text messages and fraudulent information sent by "pseudo base stations" will also follow. How to identify "pseudo base stations" "What about spam and fraudulent information, and how to protect your own information security and property security?"

What is a "pseudo base station"?

The so-called pseudo base station is a radio transmitting device disguised as a communication operator's base station. From the outside, the pseudo base station consists of a chassis, a transmitter and a laptop or mobile phone. When the pseudo base station is in operation, it can search for mobile phone card information within a certain radius centered on it. The user's mobile phone signal is forced to connect to the device and cannot be connected to the public telecommunications network. The pseudo base station takes the opportunity to impersonate other people's mobile phone numbers. Forcibly send short messages such as fraud and advertising promotions to users' mobile phones.

The working principle of the "pseudo base station": first invade the operator's network; secondly, fake the verification method during the information transmission process; then interfere with and block the operator's communication signal; finally, deceive the verification link and send the message to the mobile phone user Harassment and fraud text messages, and this process is usually completed in a very short time, and the pseudo base station can send up to more than 50,000 messages per hour! In addition to sending annoying "junk text messages", "pseudo base stations" will cause surrounding mobile phone users to lose their mobile phone signals when sending text messages. What's more serious is that if there are waterways nearby, it will even affect aircraft and ground. The connection between the terminals is very dangerous.

In order to obtain profits, the criminal suspect Wu Hao asked others to install a "pseudo base station" on his car and helped others send spam text messages. Wu Hao's behavior has been suspected of disrupting the order of radio communication management. .

Article 288 of the "Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China" stipulates that violating national regulations, setting up and using radio stations (stations) without authorization, or using radio frequencies without authorization, interfering with the order of radio communications, If the circumstances are serious, the offender shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years, criminal detention or surveillance, and concurrently or solely with a fine; if the circumstances are particularly serious, the offender shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years and not more than seven years, and concurrently fined.

We would like to remind everyone to strengthen their awareness of prevention and learn to identify bad information sent by "pseudo base stations". If you receive the following information, you must be vigilant to prevent being deceived:

1. First, pretend to be a family member, friend, landlord, etc., and directly ask you for money in the name of borrowing money, collecting rent, etc. We cannot easily believe the information. We must verify the authenticity of the text message content by contacting relatives and friends as soon as possible, and do not easily transfer money to criminals based on the information content.

2. The second is to encounter fake base stations + phishing websites pretending to be 95588, 95533, 95555 and other bank customer service personnel, defrauding you on the grounds that the bank account has expired and needs to be renewed, points can be exchanged for cash/goods, and credit cards can be upgraded for free. bank personal information, and then wait for the opportunity to steal your bank card. Tips: When you receive a text message pretending to be from a bank or communication operator, especially one with a website link, be sure not to click on the link in the text message casually; call the customer service number to verify the authenticity of the text message content in a timely manner.

3. The third is pseudo base stations + phishing websites + Trojan viruses. This Trojan virus can not only steal your bank information, but also intercept verification codes sent by the bank. Tips: Never blindly click on the URL in the text message, and do not enter bank account password, mobile payment verification code and other information into the linked webpage.

4. At the same time, you can also use some mobile phone security software to intercept such spam text messages. Of course, when you often receive spam text messages in certain locations, don’t forget to call the police in time to help the police investigate and deal with these harmful “pseudo base stations”.