The Shenzhen Municipal Public Security Bureau recently busted a gang of 22 suspects for sending harassing text messages to earn profits, the Shenzhen Special Zone Daily reported.
The operation was coordinated by the Guangdong Provincial Public Security Department and carried out by Shenzhen police. A special investigating team was put together to look into the case.
This April, the provincial public security department informed Shenzhen police that an online platform was found to be sending harassing text messages to a large number of mobile users in Shenzhen.
The platform used the illegal service to earn money from agencies. The gang, led by a suspect surnamed Lei, charged fees to send messages to the phone numbers provided by the agencies.
The content of the harassing messages mainly involved blackmail to force trades, chase down debts, and so forth.
Shenzhen police also confiscated a large quantity of Internet servers, computers, phones and bank cards that had been used to commit the crimes from the gang’s dens.
