Illegal Devices Found Spreading Spam to Thousands of Nearby Cellphones

It seems that nothing is stopping spam from finding their way to our cellphones. A recent study showed that more than 200 billion spam messages disturbed Chinese people in the first half of 2013. But get ready for more – a new illegal messaging system can spread junk to your phone, even without knowing your number, according to The Beijing News.

The system uses a device that's said to be able to temporarily block networks from mobile operators, like China Mobile, within a small area, in order to access nearby mobile phones. Then, without going through any phone carriers, a text can be sent to mobile phones using a computer connected to the device.

This so-called “pseudo base station” is the size of a pizza box and is usually located in a black vehicle that drives around busy downtown areas like Guomao. Their operators advertise, “For only RMB 1,000, you can send messages to 100,000 mobiles phones within three kilometers.”

And apparently, these guys are making bank off of your bothersome phone junk messages, usually up to RMB 5,000 a day. 

But how do you know if your spam is from one of these base stations? And what do you do about it?

Turns out, not a whole lot. This new type of spammer is able to send messages from any number (such as 110 and 10086) to avoid being tracked and mislead people into believing in its credibility. The current ways you can tackle junk messages include reporting the senders to the mobile operators – China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom, and spam-fighting mobile phone apps. But none of the methods seem very effective for combating these low-lying guys in their cars.

What's worse, they'll turn off their computers if they sense China Mobile's tracking vehicles are on their toes, and their messages are sent in low frequencies that are difficult for regulators to detect.

After The Beijing News report earlier this week, the Beijing Communications Administration had responded by saying that they would work with other parties, including the police, to look into a solution. But we guess you won't be laying off that delete button anytime soon.

Photo: The Beijing News