Shanghai's iPhone users are top targets for fraud and spam calls among all cities nationwide, followed by Shenzhen and Beijing, a report covering iOS system security said yesterday.
Internet crimes have established a "black industry chain" in China, which threatens national security, breaches of personal information and causes losses of more than 100 billion yuan ($14.5 billion) annually, industry executives said.
A report by Internet giant Tencent said Shanghai ranked number one among all cities, with 581,000 numbers listed as being involved in fraud or spam.
In September, Apple began allowing third-party firms such as Tencent and Qihoo 360 to mark numbers and block calls after a growing number of complaints about security for mobile phones.
Regulators, including the central bank and public security and IT ministries, will strengthen cooperation with the industry to fight booming telecom and online frauds.
Consumers are encouraged to note suspicious calls, government officials have said at recent industry conferences.
Tencent chairman Ma Huateng has called for a government-authorized platform to share data from banks, carriers, government regulators and dotcom firms to jointly fight online crimes.
"The crimes have used advanced technologies, such as cloud and data analysis, to target system loopholes and victims," Ma said.
"We have to integrate all organizations to fight against them."
In the first 11 months, the Public Security Ministry recorded 9.3 million Internet crime cases with a total value of 4.8 billion yuan ($690 million), including fraudulent messages and phishing, said Zeng Haiyan, a senior executive of the Criminal Investigation department of the Ministry of Public Security.
