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November 29, 2014

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Spy gadget network for exam cheats busted

A NATIONWIDE network manufacturing and selling spy gadgets to help exam cheats has been broken up by Shanghai police.

Eleven people were held in the city and in several provinces and regions, officers said yesterday.

Many are suspected of producing the cheating devices and selling them over the Internet.

Police said that three of the 11 held are locals suspected of buying gadgets to cheat in exams.

A huge number of devices were seized, said city officers. These included cameras hidden in spectacles and watches, erasers and pens with screens, tiny capsule wireless earpieces and mini transmitters.

Armed with these, a cheat photographs the exam paper and sends it by wireless to accomplices.

They find the answers and either tell these to the crooked candidate via the earpiece or send them to a device with a screen.

These devices have been used to cheat in national and regional exams, including the national civil servant exam, which this year takes place tomorrow.

Under Chinese criminal law, anyone illegally producing or selling such spying devices can be jailed for up to three years.

And anyone caught using these items in national exams can be charged with unlawfully obtaining state secrets.

Last month, local Internet police discovered a website, disguised as an online store for security devices, selling spying devices.

The operation was traced to Shenzhen, in southern China’s Guangdong Province, and members tracked down to areas including Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Hubei and Shandong provinces.

On November 18, local officers held 11 suspects in these regions.

One suspect, surnamed Wei, is said to have started selling the cheating devices in April from his store in Shenzhen.

He bought these from wholesalers and set up a website to advertise his wares, recruiting agents in other areas to help widen his sales.

“I started selling spy gadgets after customers asked me to find some for them,” Wei told Shanghai Daily from detention yesterday.

“At the beginning, I knew nothing about what these were used for and just bought them from other sellers I found online.

“Later I came to realize that the items I sold to customers were cheating devices.”

Wei said he paid on average 2,000 yuan (US$325) for each device and sold them for up to 3,000 yuan apiece — much more lucrative than his business selling phone cases.

His store had made sales of nearly 200,000 yuan on these devices, police said.

Some of the spy gadgets came from overseas, they added.

Police said that they are still tracking down more suspects.




 

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