Blackmail data came from Web, court hears

By Angela Xu  |   2008-6-25  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

FOUR suspects from Liaoning Province have been arrested for trying to blackmail a car owner using personal information they bought online.

It is the city's first criminal case in which suspects allegedly committed a crime with personal information they bought illegally online, Changning District prosecutors said.

The four suspects, whose identities were not released by prosecutors, were charged with attempted blackmail by the Changning District Prosecutors' Office.

The court heard that on March 28, a local man surnamed Hong received a call from a man with a northeast Chinese accent detailing Hong's personal information including his name, address and phone number.

After Hong had confirmed the information, the man said somebody had paid him to hurt him because Hong had offended him.

The caller said the problem could be solved if Hong deposited 10,000 yuan (US$1,456) in an appointed account, prosecutors said.

Hong reported the call to police. The police soon targeted four suspects in Liaoning.

The court heard that police seized a mobile phone and a book with the personal information of thousands of people from the suspects.

The suspects said they searched a number of Websites on the Internet and chose a Website at random from which to buy information on thousands of Shanghai car owners.

Prosecutors said laws were urgently needed to protect personal information as Websites selling information can be easily found on the Internet.

One Website, claiming to have the most authoritative and complete database, sold 1.35 million pieces of information about company managers for 1,280 yuan, the court heard.