Reporter | Zeng Yanglin Zou Luhui
You don’t need to run a bank, you don’t need to provide guarantees and mortgages, you can get credit services by filling in information with your fingers or even filling in a mobile phone verification code. The emergence of Internet loan platform provides convenience for people who need capital turnover, but there are also many hidden dangers under the high convenience.
With the approach of International Consumer Protection Day on March 15th, complaints related to online loans are also emerging one after another. Some complainants reported that they didn’t borrow money through the online platform, but they suffered a lot of troubles because of the change of mobile phone number. What happened?
Inexplicably owed by online loans, can old and new owners share an account?
A few days ago, a sword net three players posted that their white account had an overdue debt of up to 10 thousand yuan for no reason, which caused a lot of discussion.
The user "Zhi Qingci" said in the post that he received a strange WeChat on March 1, telling him that there was a debt overdue for 116 days on the white note registered with his mobile phone number, amounting to 11,633.93 yuan.
But to her surprise, although I registered white strip products in college, I never used them. In addition, the mobile phone number for registration was abandoned at the end of 2018. It stands to reason that this white account should also be abandoned; However, after the query of "Zhi Qing Ci", it was learned that this account that should have been unused had a 1 yuan money expenditure in August 2020 and September 2020, and in October 2020, there were 14 expenditures with a total amount of 10,991.82, and the accumulated amount of these expenditures has reached 11,633.93 yuan.
Being loaned for no reason, she immediately called Baitiao customer service and stated the above facts. The customer service staff told her that if the account registered by her mobile phone number is not untied or cancelled, even if the mobile phone number has been cancelled, the account will continue to use her identity information when it is activated by the new account owner again.
"Zhi Qing Ci" said that the day after posting, it attracted the attention of the white note, and the customer service verification information of the other party confirmed that the theft was true, and the account arrears had been cancelled.
Can the old and new owners of a mobile phone number share an account?
"Zhi Qing Ci" is not an isolated case. Under the reply of this post, many people also share similar experiences.
Some netizens reported that the new number just handled received a notice from the former owner to buy take-out and take a taxi on the Internet platforms such as Meituan and Didi; Some netizens reported that the newly-processed mobile phone number actually passed the verification code and landed on many Internet platforms with personal information, including Weibo and Baidu.
The existence of such loopholes not only allows personal privacy to be obtained by strangers without my knowledge, but also exposes consumer credit services to risks.
Especially at the moment when credit services are becoming more convenient, credit services can be completed only by obtaining the identity information and verification code. If the platform and telecom operators fail to synchronize information in time, it is not an isolated case that "Zhi Qing Ci" carries loans for no reason.
Interface news found that not only IOUs, but also cases of other platform users carrying loans for no reason abound.
Teng, a freshman in Nanjing, applied for a campus card of China Unicom when he entered school in September 2020. Since then, he has been harassed by phone calls and text messages.
"Sometimes when I was in class, the phone calls came one after another, and several times when I was sleeping, the other party called, which led to a serious decline in my sleep quality for a while." Teng told the interface journalist that there is a rule in these collection calls, that is, after a call is not connected, a serial call will be opened.
According to Teng, these collection calls all point to Gitzo Consumer Finance Co., Ltd., but he himself did not borrow money from the company. Different from the "Zhi Qing Ci", it is not the new owner of the mobile phone number that is overdue this time, but the former owner Lu Mou.
In addition to being harassed by telephone, Teng often receives short messages from Huaxia Bank and a law firm, and the borrowers shown in the short messages are the names of other debtors-Zhang and Liu. In addition, there are two students around Teng who have similar experiences.
In this regard, Teng contacted China Unicom, but the customer service only responded to let him ignore these calls and text messages, and did not give a solution. As a result, Teng, who was overwhelmed, complained about Gitzo Consumer Finance Company on the Internet complaint platform on March 2, but has not received the other party’s reply so far.
For the above situation, the interface journalist contacted Gitzo Consumer Finance Company. After verifying the relevant situation, the customer service of the company suspended the collection of the complainant. In addition, a related person from Gitzo Consumer Finance Company told reporters that if there is a similar situation in the future, it is recommended that the parties contact the company’s official customer service phone number and also explain the situation to the telecommunications company.
How can users protect their rights and interests when unpaid debts are collected for credit information?
The parties who owe money for no reason often face the trouble of being collected before the matter is solved. In the collection phone records displayed by Teng, at most, 10 harassing calls will be received a day.
"Every time I tell the other party on the phone that I have nothing to do with this person, when the mobile phone number has changed hands, the other party often hangs up without listening to the explanation, but will continue to harass me by phone." Teng said.
Also harassed by the collection phone, there is Mr. Zhang who has been filled as an emergency contact because of his arrears. Since February, an Internet lending platform has called many times to inform his former colleague Wan that he owed money on the platform and asked Mr. Zhang to help him contact.
Although Mr. Zhang has repeatedly told the collection staff that Wan is his former colleague, the two sides have not contacted for a long time, and they can’t contact him at present. But I still get 2-3 collection calls every day, which seriously affects my work and life.
Mr. Zhang also posted his experience on the Internet complaint platform, but the complaint has not been resolved so far.
Is this kind of harassment of telephone collection illegal? In the face of the harassment of collection without loans, how should the parties defend their rights after repeatedly explaining that the situation is fruitless?
Dorri, a lawyer of Beijing Yingke Law Firm, suggested that the parties can collect evidence when they receive harassing calls and report to the police station in their jurisdiction.
Dorri reminded that when answering the phone, the parties should pay attention to starting the telephone recording function and collect the following information: 1. The name of the collection person and the name of the collection company; 2. Harassing people’s fixed telephone; 3. The phone shows that I have nothing to do with the arrears; 4. Warn the other party not to call again for harassment. If you call again for more than 2 times, you will call the police. In addition, when calling the police, you should pay attention to: providing the above telephone recordings as evidence shows that you have explicitly refused and are still disturbed by the other party for more than three times, and the other party’s behavior has seriously affected my normal life.
A senior lawyer suggested that the infringed party can take the dispute of privacy as the cause of action and bring it to the people’s court with jurisdiction, demanding the other party to take one or more measures to bear civil liability, such as stopping the infringement, apologizing and compensating for losses, and have the right to apply to the people’s court for measures to order the actor to stop the relevant behavior according to law. The lawyer said that because the lawsuit takes too long, it is suggested that the infringed party can apply to the court at the same time to take measures to order the perpetrator to stop the relevant behavior, such as issuing an injunction against personality rights.
However, in addition to collecting telephone harassment, whether the extra loans for no reason will affect their own credit information is related to the vital interests of users.
At the bottom of the post of "Zhi Qing Ci", according to her prompt, some netizens also inquired about their identity information and found that they owed more than 100 yuan for no reason, which has been reported to the credit bureau.
What should I do if this loophole is exploited by people with ulterior motives? The "Zhi Qing Ci" that has solved its own problems reminds everyone to take more precautions. In her post, she said that I hope everyone will take a warning. After I don’t use this mobile phone number, I may be inherited by the new owner. It is best to check with the platform customer service that there are several accounts under my ID card, and whether they are all opened by myself. Feedback to the customer service in time.
She also said that she had given feedback to the customer service: "Can you add a function of re-verifying your identity without logging in to a common device? I hope that everyone will not encounter similar things in the future."
Some netizens summed up the lesson below and said, "If you want to change your mobile phone number, remember to cancel Alipay and WeChat, which are registered with your mobile phone number. Usually, you should not change your mobile phone number easily. If you don’t use your mobile phone number in other places, you can stop the phone number. Write it down in a small notebook and write it down in the memo. If you want to change your mobile phone number, you must first change the money-related one or cancel it."
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