Story 2 What To Do If Spammed By Calls?
Leaking Of Private Information
The winter in Wuhan was harsh this year. Due to the freezing temperature and over 12 hours of work a day, Du was suffering from the flu. Du was sick for a week and could not afford to see a doctor. She was so nauseated that crawling downstairs in the near-zero temperatures was impossible.
If you have lived in China, you would know that buying food, hailing a cab, and even finding a cook can all be done with your phone. Du decided to get an App called "Pocket Doctor" to consult a doctor for free and buy medicine online. The App required her to fill in her contact information, and she did so without further thought.
The next day, the ringing of her phone woke her up at 8 a. m.
"Hello, who's there?"
"Hi Du, this is Jack from Get Fit calling. Our gym is recruiting new members. Come down today to get a one-month free trial and a free yoga session!"
"Sorry, but I am not interested. Goodbye."
Du hung up the phone and went back to sleep.
Half an hour later, her phone rang again.
"Hello?"
"Hello Du! We have a great bargain for you. Get your Nan Yue Lake villa for a discount today! It is just 30 kilometres away from the center of the city, less than half an hour's drive! You get the best view in the whole of Wuhan!"
"Why do you have my phone number? Goodbye."
Getting frustrated, Du hung up the phone once again and tried to get back to sleep.
Just as she fell asleep, her phone started ringing again.
"Hello Du! Our bank is offering a once-in-a-lifetime deal. You can borrow up to a hundred thousand today without a house, a car, or any proof of income at all! Just bring along your I.D card and get your cash right away!"
"God! What is it with these phone calls today! Why can't I just get some sleep?"Du thought. She muted her phone and tried to get back to sleep.
A few hours later, Du woke up to find 30 unread messages and 20 missed calls. All the messages were some sort of advertisement, ranging from discounts on food, clothing to electronic gadgets, you name it.
Realizing that her personal information has been leaked, Du thought hard to recall the last time she gave her phone number to somebody. Ah! It was not a somebody. It was the "Pocket Doctor" App!
What can Du do in this case?
Law in a Minute
Du's phone number was leaked, or even much worse, collected and sold to advertisement companies without her consent. There are advertisement companies that collect a huge amount of customer information, and sell them as a bundle to other companies that may be interested in selling a product or service to that particular category of customers. Du registered her telephone number in the "Pocket Doctor" App, which would probably categorize her into "healthcare", explaining why gyms and health product companies called her.
The easiest way for Du to protect her legal rights is to first negotiate with "Pocket Doctor" App. She can give them a call to inform them of this information leak, and ask them to contain the leak as to prevent further junk calls and spam messages. If you have received junk mail before, you may notice that there is always an unsubscribe button at the end of the email. This is a legal requirement. Companies are required by law to stop spamming you after you have clearly stated that you do not want to receive those kinds of advertisements anymore.
However, I have tried this method as well as I have also been spammed by numerous calls and messages every day before, especially when it is close to November 11th, a famous Chinese shopping festival. I received up to 50 spam messages every day! Calling them is completely useless. They will reply you "I will look into it," and you will still be spammed. Call them again and they won't even admit that they leaked your personal information.
Therefore, I would advise to warn them with legal measures. If the warns do not work, try reporting the company to the govevnment. Administrative departments will fine or even shut these kinds of companies down if they are found illegally collecting or using consumer information.
According to the Consumer Law, business operators can collect and use the personal information of consumers after getting consent from them. The process must be done only after clearly indicating the purpose, manner and scope of such a procedure.
The business operator is obliged to take technical and other necessary measures to ensure the security of consumer information. The business operator may not send advevtisements to their customers without his or her consent, or when the customer expressly refuses to receive such messages. Otherwise, the business operator shall bear legal responsibility for infringing the consumer's rights according to Articles 50 and 56 of the Consumer Law. The business operator will be required to stop the infringement eliminate adverse influence, apologise to the customer and compensate for his/her loss.
Legal Basis
Consumer Protection Law of the People's Republic of China
Article 14
Consumers shall, in their purchasing and using commodities or receiving services, have their human dignity, national customs and habits respected.
Article 29
State organs concerned shall, in accordance with the provisions of laws and regulations, punish any law-breaking or criminal activities of business operators infringing upon the legitimate rights and interests of consumers in their supplying of commodities or services.
Article 50
Business operators who harm consumers' human dignity, infringe upon consumers' personal freedom or upon consumers' lawful right of personal information potection, shall cease infringement, restore consumers' reputation, eliminate the impact, make formal apologies, and compensate consumers for losses.
Article 56
In any of the following circumstances, in addition to bearing corresponding civil liabilities, where other applicable laws and regulations provide for the punishing authorities and forms of punishment, those laws or regulations in implementation shall be followed. Where laws or regulations have no relevant provisions, the administrative departments for industry and commerce or other relevant administrative departments shall order corrections, and based on the circumstances, may give business operators warnings, confiscate their unlawful gains, fine them between one and ten times the illegal income or, if there is no illegal income, fine them up to 500,000 Yuan, or impose a combination of the above penalties; and where the circumstances are serious, order them to suspend business until is there rectification or revoke their business licenses:
(1) Where goods or services provided do not meet the requirements for the protection of personal and property;
(2) Where goods are adulterated, fake goods are passed as genuine, defective goods are passed as qualified goods, or non-compliant goods are passed as compliant goods;
(3) Where goods have been expressly rejected by the country of origin are expired or have deteriorated;
(4) Where the origin of goods is falsified, factory names and addresses are forged or falsified, date of production is misrepresented, or certification marks and other quality marks are forged or falsified;
(5) Where goods being sold are not inspected or quarantined as required, or where inspection or quarantine results are forged;
(6) Where goods or services are promoted in a false or misleading manner;
(7) Where ordered by the relevant administrative departments for measures on defective goods or services, such as stopping sales, issuing warnings, recalls, safe disposition, destruction, and stopping production or services, for their defective goods or services, are refused or delayed.
(8) Where consumers' requests for repairs, reproduction, replacement, return of goods, making up for deficiencies, refunding payments for goods or services, or compensation for losses are deliberately delayed or unreasonably refused;
(9) Where human dignity or personal freedom of consumers is infringed or consumers' lawful right to protection of their personal information is infringed.
(10) Other situations where the law or regulations provide for punishment of harm to consumers' lawful rights and interests.
In the circumstances in the preceding paragraph, in addition to punishment in accordance with laws and regulations, the organ which imposes the punishment shall record this into national credit files and disclose it to the public.
