Operators in many places have closed international SMS receiving services

Operators in many places have closed international SMS receiving services. In order to prevent Chinese residents from telecom fraud, China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom have Operators have officially announced that local users are prohibited from receiving overseas information by default. Operators in many places have closed international SMS reception services. Operators in many places have shut down international SMS reception services 1

Recently, many netizens have complained on social platforms about being frequently harassed by "international calls" and "overseas text messages". It is clear that they have no relatives abroad, but they still receive constant calls and messages. Continuously.

The endless stream of harassing messages has seriously interfered with their own lives and is extremely annoying. Some netizens have even suffered property losses due to fraudulent calls and text messages.

The good news is that operators have finally taken action to rectify this phenomenon.

Recently, a user of Henan China Unicom broke the news and received a text message announcement from Henan China Unicom, which showed that "there has been a high incidence of fraud cases caused by overseas fraudulent text messages. According to the Henan Provincial Department of Combating New Illegal Crimes in Telecom Networks, According to the work requirements of the International Joint Conference Office, starting from May 7, 2022, the reception of international and Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan text messages by Henan Unicom users will be turned off by default."

Henan Unicom stated that if there are indeed international and Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan text messages. To receive demand, you can send SMS KTGJDX to 10010 to apply for free activation. You can also enable or close the international, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan SMS receiving function through Henan Unicom's own business hall and China Unicom App.

In other words, the overseas text message function has been turned off by default. Henan Unicom users who want to receive overseas text messages must first apply to activate this function. Those who have not activated it will not be able to receive it in the future. Overseas SMS.

It can be said that most domestic users do not often come into contact with overseas text messages and phone calls, especially the elderly at home who have low awareness of prevention, so there is no harm in closing this channel. Closing the channel means cutting off the communication channels for fraudulent text messages. I believe there will be much less overseas fraud.

In the past, if people wanted to block messy overseas calls or text messages, they had to rely on third-party APPs. Now, operators block it for users, which is naturally much more powerful than third-party APPs.

Netizens said that with such a good feature, all three major operators should enable it by default.

In fact, Henan, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Guizhou, Liaoning and other places have turned off the overseas text messaging function by default.

As early as March 22, according to the Gongxin WeChat News, Jiangxi Telecom, Jiangxi Mobile, and Jiangxi China Unicom issued a joint announcement. In order to strictly control overseas fraudulent text messages, starting from March 28, Jiangxi Province will The international and Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan text message receiving services for users have been adjusted to be activated upon user application.

Users can activate this function in two ways, one is the traditional way to go to the business hall with their ID card, and the other is to send "GJDXDG" to the corresponding operator. Just use the service number. If the user subsequently wants to turn off this feature, they only need to send "GJDXQX" to the service number of the corresponding operator.

Among other provinces:

Zhejiang has implemented it at 0:00 on August 10, 2021;

Guizhou has implemented it at 0:00 on November 27, 2021 Implementation;

Liaoning will be implemented from 0:00 on January 25, 2022.

It is expected that the above-mentioned provinces may be pilot provinces, and in the near future, operators in all provinces across the country will implement this initiative.

However, some people are worried about whether they will be unable to obtain authentication codes from companies such as Apple or Microsoft to log in to their accounts?

In this regard, some netizens said:

The protocol used for the verification code is not point-to-point SMS. It can be sent because the SMS service provider is at the SMS gateway of the operator's entire network. The access number applied for does not belong to a foreign country. Some foreign companies such as Apple and Microsoft have domestic access numbers.

Some companies buy domestic third-party SMS access services, and the SMS access codes with the mass sending function are registered and have signed a security agreement, so they will not send fraudulent SMS. So it will not affect everyone's receipt of the verification code. What is really affected are the short messages sent by relatives and friends abroad....

It is worth mentioning that communication operators should send A text message was sent to all users to avoid causing trouble to users who were unaware of this measure.

Some netizens said that they had always been unable to receive verification code SMS messages from abroad before. Finally, after receiving various anti-fraud SMS reminders, they remembered that the overseas SMS function has been turned off by default.

Operators should especially remind users engaged in foreign trade that they have normal overseas business transactions and need to maintain communication at all times.

In addition, it is also necessary to intercept overseas calls. Although it is easy for young people nowadays to spot fraudulent overseas calls, because they are dialing overseas, they will be constantly prompted by SMS security reminders, so turning on Do Not Disturb is not a problem. It doesn't help, the mobile phone is a situation where no matter what you do, it will be interrupted. If you want to intercept overseas calls, the three major operators have also introduced methods before. Operators in many places have shut down international SMS reception services 2

In order to prevent Chinese residents from telecom fraud, in March this year, the three major operators of Jiangxi Mobile, China Unicom, and China Telecom all officially announced that starting from March 28, 2022 , local users are prohibited from receiving overseas information by default. In less than 30 days, Henan's three major operators also announced that they would shut down users from receiving overseas information by default.

If you want to activate the overseas information receiving function, you can bring your ID number to the business hall or send a text message code to the operator. The SMS code for Jiangxi is "GJDXDG" and the SMS code for Henan is "KTGJDX". Just send it to 10086/10010/10001.

In just 30 days, operators in two most populous provinces have shut down users from receiving overseas information by default. Could it be that telecom fraud has developed to such a serious level that operators are forced to Does this method help users isolate fraudulent information from overseas?

Overseas gangs are already the main force in telecommunications fraud

In the first 11 months of 2021, our country’s police cracked down more than 370,000 telecommunications network fraud cases and arrested 54.9 million criminal suspects. More than 10,000 people. Under heavy pressure at home, many telecom fraud gangs have begun to move overseas. In 2021 alone, our country has eliminated 10,600 illegal departures from the country in groups of more than 3 people.

These shocking figures are enough to show that overseas gangs have become the main force in telecommunications fraud. What’s even more frightening is that various fraud schemes are constantly being exposed, and scammers are forced to use new tricks and keep up with current events more closely than ordinary netizens.

For example, when the concept of the Metaverse was introduced to China from overseas and the Chinese people did not understand it, many scams about the Metaverse appeared. Many overseas fraud groups promote Metaverse games, Metaverse funds, etc. through phone calls and QQ groups.

The problem of leakage of personal privacy information in China is too serious. In the eyes of scammers, our identities are almost public. These scams keep up with current events, or use schemes that are close to our lives. When scammers read out our personal information, people who are less vigilant may be deceived. Overseas telecommunications fraud gangs are troublesome to track down. Once property is lost, it is difficult to recover it.

In response to rampant fraud gangs, relevant domestic departments have continuously introduced policies and plans to safeguard the property safety of residents.

Relevant departments have earlier launched the National Anti-Fraud Center App. Once permission is granted to the App, it can protect mobile phones and detect suspicious calls or text messages. The National Anti-Fraud Center App also has a scam exposure channel, which constantly exposes the various tricks of scammers. If you look at these scams frequently, you will be alert.

In addition, some areas will also monitor users’ mobile phones for abnormal calls. After receiving a scam call about lost express delivery, I quickly received a call from the police station, reminding me just now I received a scam call. However, the number of scammers is too huge. Hundreds of thousands of criminals are caught every year, but there are many more lurking.

Although the current plan developed by operators cannot completely eliminate local telecommunications fraud, it can at least block fraudulent information from overseas and provide residents with additional protection.

Shouldn’t blocking overseas text messages be a one-size-fits-all approach?

Directly blocking overseas text messages is simple and crude, but it is not suitable for all regions. Jiangxi and Henan have less foreign trade and a large number of migrant workers. Many families have elderly people and children staying in their hometowns. These people basically have little demand for overseas information, but they are also the main targets of fraudsters, so they are suitable for blocking overseas information across the board.

Henan and Jiangxi directly block overseas text messages, which must have been considered by many parties. This measure needs to be popularized, especially in other non-coastal provinces. As for coastal provinces like Guangdong and Shanghai, they are the main windows for China’s foreign trade. Although the three major operators have all given plans to restore overseas text messages, not everyone knows that these regions cannot rashly block all overseas text messages, otherwise it may cause some adverse effects in the short term.

Operators directly blocking overseas text messages is an effective solution to curb fraud gangs. It needs to be promoted on a wider scale, but each region must consider the actual local situation. It is best to Mainly provinces and cities with more elderly people and children and less foreign trade. However, this solution can only limit overseas fraud information, and more fraud information comes from China.

Operators have many means, but efforts from all walks of life are still needed

Since it is a telecommunications fraud, it is natural to use various communication methods. There are generally a large number of mobile phone cards in the hands of fraud gangs. For those people, operators have also joined forces with the police to carry out in-depth "card disconnection" operations. In 2021, the government eliminated 39,000 criminal gangs involved in "two card" crimes, investigated and dealt with 420,000 criminal suspects, and investigated and dealt with more than 5,000 internal personnel of financial institutions and communication companies.

Operators and the police have no mercy when it comes to telecom fraud and continue to use various means to crack down on telecom fraud criminal gangs. Their efforts have paid off. Compared with 2020, there have been significantly fewer telecom fraud cases in 2021.

In fact, telecom fraud has been common many years ago. It’s just that in the Internet age, we have more channels to learn about telecom fraud cases. I still remember when I was in junior high school, real-name authentication was not required to purchase a mobile phone card. You could just pay and take it away. This situation undoubtedly fostered the breeding ground for telecom fraud. Later, the three major operators joined forces to require real-name authentication for mobile phone cards, which severely dealt a blow to the arrogance of criminals.

The advent of the Internet era has diversified telecommunications fraud. Although operators continue to launch various plans and insist on cracking down on fraud gangs, they are unable to comprehensively screen the vast amount of information flow. . There are also some criminals who use mobile phone numbers to register for WeChat and QQ to commit telecom fraud. In response, Tencent has also introduced countermeasures, such as increasing reporting channels and strictly controlling new account registrations.

Fraud is a very old profession. There are always people who want to get something for nothing. Until a harmonious society is truly realized, the profession of fraud cannot disappear. It’s just that our attitude towards fraud is changing, and the means to punish fraudsters are increasing. Now we not only have the police to crack down on fraud gangs, but operators and other companies are also doing their part. Especially in the era of telecom fraud, operators have a huge responsibility.

Although the main responsibility for property losses caused by telecom fraud does not lie with the operator, some people inevitably think that this is the operator's responsibility. China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Telecom are all formulating plans to unswervingly combat telecommunications fraud. This battle against telecom fraud will continue for a long time. I believe that the people's police will not admit defeat, nor will the operators. More communication companies will join in and contribute their own strength. Operators in many places have shut down international SMS reception services 3

I believe that many netizens have been frequently harassed by "international calls" and "overseas text messages", and have no choice but to block the harassing messages and calls one by one. Or intercept it through a third-party app.

Not long ago, Henan China Unicom, Henan Mobile and Henan Telecom jointly issued an announcement on "International and Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan SMS Receiving Business".

The announcement pointed out that starting from 0:00 on May 7, 2022, the international and Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan text message reception services will be adjusted to be activated upon user application. At that time, the international and Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan text message reception functions will be closed by default.

For users in Henan Province who need to receive international, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan text messages, they can bring their ID cards to the self-operated business offices of local China Mobile, China Unicom, and telecommunications companies or send text messages to confirm free activation.

It is worth mentioning that many provinces and cities across the country (Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Guizhou, Liaoning, Hebei) have implemented this operation.

According to CCTV, in April this year, Sui Jing, director of the Cybersecurity Administration of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said that in 2021, 45,000 fraudulent code numbers and 1.04 million domain name URLs will be dealt with in accordance with the law, and intercepted There were 1.95 billion fraudulent calls and 2.14 billion fraudulent text messages.

Sui Jing said that an international import and export text message early warning system will be built to realize real-time proactive reminders of international incoming calls and text messages, and to enhance the public’s awareness of preventing cross-border fraud. At the same time, an “anti-fraud business card” will be launched to realize the target The authoritative mark of the calling number, which can effectively identify the authenticity of the number.