Shandong steps up efforts to curb identity theft

Shandong provincial education department is gathering information about people who steal others' identity to attend college and will release related information soon, Southern Metropolis Daily reported on Friday.

A staff member of the department, who declined to give name, told the newspaper that the department had noticed recent news reports about some people stealing others' identity to attend college. The department is collecting information for future release.

A recent news report about a 34-year-old woman in Guanxian, Shandong province discovering that her identity was stolen by another woman 16 years ago and that the woman attend college in place of her attracted attention of people.

According to the newspaper, the education department of Shandong released a notice in September 2018, saying that it would comb the information of students who received higher education in Shandong. All the information was on the official website of the China Higher Education Student Information and Career Center.

Then 14 colleges and universities of the province released the results of the inspection: 242 people were suspected of stealing others' identity to attend college. All obtained their higher education certificates during 2002 and 2009, the newspaper said.

The 14 colleges and universities include Ocean University of China in Qingdao, Jinan University, Zaozhuang University and Weifang Medical University.

The newspaper said these higher education institutions have contacted people suspected of stealing others' identity, informing them that their higher education degrees and certificates would be revoked and people involved could contact the institutions if they have any question or disagree with the decision. But the institutions haven't received any calls so far.

The newspaper added that none of the people whose identities were stolen have been reached by the higher education institutions either, as the institutions had no access to these people's contact information.