Fraudulent use of people's personal identification in Hongkou

People's biometric data and personal information were found to be used for issuing false invoices, illegal sales and exchange and swindling, the Hongkou District's procurators said on Friday.

In a typical case, two people were sentenced to jail and fined up to 70,000 yuan (US$10,836) for forging facial identification to issue false invoices totaling more than 500 million yuan, the procurators said.

Hongkou procurators also released their first criminal with civil public interest litigation case relating to illegally collecting students' personal information. Three defendants were asked to make public apologies and pay 16,000 yuan in compensation for infringing on citizens' personal information.

The procurators reminded people to keep a close eye on their personal information, such as phone numbers, biometric information, facial identification, photos, home addresses and ID card numbers, to prevent fraudulent activities.