Four arrested in Shanghai for phone scam

Four suspects have been arrested in Shanghai for fraud in a phone scam that used illegally obtained personal information from 160,000 students and parents throughout the city, Shanghai Morning Post reported on Wednesday.

In March and April, police received more than 40 reports from parents who said they received phone calls from people who called themselves doctors and teachers and asked the parents to transfer money as payment for treating their sick kids.

More than 600,000 yuan ($98,000) was transferred to the suspects. Police tracked down the callers' numbers to Xiamen, Fujian province, on June 6 and arrested the four.

Shanghai police also detained 17 suspects, some of whom were salespeople for insurance companies in Hongkou district. They are suspected of sharing personal information of more than a million people and selling the information to the four suspects.

Police said the salespeople in insurance, security and telecommunications sectors have a great deal of client information and can be key sources for trading personal data.