22-year-old Li Xue, I really wish he hadn't done the so-called "part-time job".
In July 2023, when he was in college in Ningxia, he leaked his personal information due to a "part-time job" that required face verification, and inexplicably became the legal representative or executive of many companies in Sichuan. In September of that year, he failed to pass the qualification examination and failed to take the exam.
In January of this year, Li Xue posted his experience to social ** and found many people with similar experiences. In a group chat called "Impostor Victims", the identities of nearly 400 victims were fraudulently used, and they could not pass the work background investigation, and it was difficult to take the public examination and the examination editor.
"Part-time" but was coaxed into facial recognition
Recalling the situation when he participated in the "part-time job" last summer, Li Xue is still confused.
At that time, on social software, a netizen in the same city told Li Xue that there was a mobile phone application that had just been launched and was in the stage of "attracting new users" and "draining", so they urgently needed personnel to "fill the field" for the application, "according to your activity on the application after registration, you can get up to 2,000 yuan in compensation."
Under the salary**, Li Xue took a few friends to the agreed place together. The other party asked them to ** a "new application" in their mobile phones, prepare their ID cards, follow the application prompts for face recognition, and complete real-name authentication.
He recalled that the other party asked them to ** a mobile application called "Tianfu Tongban", except for real-name authentication, face recognition and other steps that need to be operated by themselves, their mobile phones are almost in the hands of the other party the whole time, "operated by them".
However, after they cooperated with each other to complete all the steps, the other party said: "Due to the system upgrade, I can't pay for the time being." Then they uninstalled the "Tianfu Tongban" in their mobile phones.
According to public information, the mobile terminal of "Tianfu Tongban" is the general portal of the mobile terminal of Sichuan Province's "One Network Office", relying on the unified matter management and other basic support systems of the province's integrated government service platform, providing one-stop online service channels for natural persons and legal persons.
According to the guidelines of the mobile terminal of "Tianfu Tongban", the reporter found that it is only necessary to click on the "enterprise start-up" function, complete the registration of name, tax, public security and other matters in accordance with the requirements of the whole process, and then carry out face recognition and electronic signature by investors, legal representatives, entrusting ** people and other relevant personnel, and the application can enter the review process, and if it passes, you can get a business license.
According to the above process, the procedures for applying for a business license in Sichuan do not need to be present in person, and the whole process can be completed on the mobile terminal.
Only then did I find out that there were multiple companies under my name
Li Xue is not the only one who caused information leakage because of his "part-time job". In December 2023, Zhou Qing, who is a graduate student at a university in Sichuan, passed an interview with a company. He reached a job offer with the company, but the hiring process could not be advanced during the background check stage. The information shows that he has a number of companies under his name.
He told reporters that the companies involved were registered in Fangshan and Huairou districts of Beijing, and they were registered in December 2021. Among them, he is the legal representative of two companies and a supervisor of two companies, all of which have been included in the list of abnormal operations.
Mr. Zhou said he had never registered any of these companies. But for him, it is very difficult to go through the normal process to cancel the establishment of the company. According to the information of the tax department, two companies issued invoices of more than 4 million yuan in the same time period, and he needed to make up for the unpaid 5$860,000 in taxes. "These invoices are all false, and it is even possible to be suspected of a crime. He said.
According to the provisions of the Criminal Law, the crime of fraudulently obtaining export tax rebates and tax deduction invoices shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than 3 years or criminal detention, and a fine of not less than 20,000 yuan but not more than 200,000 yuan. Where the amount falsely opened is especially huge or there are other especially serious circumstances, the sentence is life imprisonment or death, and confiscation of property is to be given.
Zhou Qing suspects that his identity and facial recognition information may have been fraudulently used. To this end, he retrieved the face recognition archive** registered and used by the company involved, and found that this was his ** in 2019.
He recalled a "part-time job" he did in 2019, which was also a few mobile phone apps, and he gave money after successful registration.
I did face and real-name authentication in both mobile apps, and later, the company to which it belonged went out of business. Zhou Qing believes that it should be the criminals who stole the face recognition information at that time and fraudulently registered a number of companies.
According to public information, an application registered in the name of Zhou Qing was investigated by the market supervision department of Changsha City, Hunan Province in October 2019 on suspicion of online pyramid schemes, illegal fundraising, and financial fraud.
On January 17, staff from the Fangshan District Administration for Market Regulation in Beijing responded that after receiving Zhou Qing's feedback, they had begun to investigate the situation in accordance with the Regulations of the People's Republic of China on the Registration and Administration of Market Entities, and "we will make relevant administrative decisions in accordance with the law."
Citizens' facial recognition data is being openly sold
Just looking for a "part-time job", how can there be so many more companies under your name?
Not only in Sichuan, the staff of the Beijing Fangshan District Market Supervision and Administration Bureau said that at present, in Beijing, registered companies can also be handled online, but face recognition, identity authentication, signature, etc.
A paragraph provided by Zhou Qing shows that when you open the "Beijing Enterprise Registration e-Window" application that you need to use to register a company in Beijing, you can use your pre-recorded ** for face recognition, but you can pass the detection of the software.
Regarding this problem, the staff of the Beijing Fangshan District Market Supervision and Administration Bureau said that because the authority to develop and maintain the software is not on their side, they are not clear about the reasons behind it, and they will report to the higher authorities for possible vulnerabilities.
The customer service of the "Beijing Enterprise Registration e-Window" platform said that users need to blink and other actions according to the prompts in the identity authentication stage, and the pre-recorded ** cannot pass face recognition, and has not yet received relevant feedback and complaints.
It is understood that on some overseas social software, some vendors openly peddle data related to face recognition, "a full set only costs 100u (u is a virtual currency, equivalent to about 700 yuan - reporter's note)." ”
A screenshot sent by a vendor shows that the "full set" they refer to not only includes the front and back of the ID card**, the person holding the ID card**, and even the small ** who "turns left" and "turns right" according to the instructions to pass the face recognition liveness detection.
Su Cheng, a lawyer at Shanghai Zhengce Law Firm, reminded that if a party finds that his personal information has been stolen or fraudulently registered as a shareholder or senior manager (director, supervisor, or legal representative) of the company, he or she should choose different ways to protect his rights according to the circumstances. If an application for revocation of the registration (filing) of impersonation is filed with the competent market supervision bureau, the application to the bureau to file an investigation and revoke the relevant registration; or file a lawsuit with the people's court, requesting the court to make a judgment for the company involved to revoke the industrial and commercial registration of the impersonated identity; or report the case to the public security organs, requesting that the public security organs impose administrative (public security) penalties on suspected misappropriation or fraudulent use of lawbreakers.
Su Cheng also reminded that "face recognition information" is not the only criterion for determining being "impersonated". The departments for market regulation will make a determination of whether there is impersonation through archival materials, on-site inspections, appraisal conclusions, and other channels.
The relevant departments are stepping up their efforts to crack down on fraudulent registration and other activities.
Recently, the State Administration for Market Regulation issued the "Provisions on the Prevention and Investigation of Illegal Acts of Registration of Counterfeit Enterprises", which will be officially implemented from March 15, 2024. The provisions increase the intensity of the crackdown on false registration, set up administrative penalties such as confiscation of illegal gains, fines of 50,000 yuan to 1 million yuan, revocation of business licenses, etc., and link criminal liability. At the same time, strengthen the use of credit punishment mechanisms such as the management of the List of the Untrustworthy with Serious Violations and restrictions on the registration of market entities; It also provides more specific provisions on the identification of persons directly responsible for illegal acts of registration of counterfeit enterprises, clarifying that those directly responsible, including personnel who played a decisive role in carrying out illegal acts of registration of counterfeit enterprises and have responsibility for organization, decision-making, and command, as well as personnel who specifically carried out and actively participated.
For Li Xue and Zhou Qing, their biggest wish now is to revoke the fake registration of the company involved and successfully find a job.
In order to protect the privacy of the interviewees, Li Xue and Zhou Qing are pseudonyms in the article).
*: CCTV.