Recently, Mr. Chen of Guangzhou received a "debt collection" text message on his mobile phone: "Liu Moumou... Due to the overdue communication of the arrears for many times without results, our team has driven to your household registration location and unit to verify today... "Mr. Chen is very confused, who is Liu Moumou? How did Liu Moumou's arrears text message be sent to his mobile phone? After calling the business hall, I learned that Liu Moumou was the former owner of the mobile phone number.
There are not a few users who have been harassed by SMS calls due to the purchase of "second-hand numbers" and cannot register for the app, so how can we make the mobile phone number "clean" and return to the user? The reporter launched an investigation into this.
The newly purchased mobile phone number was harassed by the "ex"
In addition to receiving "debt collection" text messages at both ends of the three days, Mr. Chen often received the "ghost" taxi service of this mobile phone number.
The picture shows that Mr. Chen in Guangzhou received a "debt collection" text message sent by the platform to the former owner on his mobile phone.
"Hello, my car has arrived, where are you?" One day in early January 2022, Mr. Chen received another call from a ride-hailing driver. "I obviously didn't call for a ride, so why did the driver call me?" Mr. Chen told reporters that the mobile phone number of China Mobile in the "138" section was purchased in December 2020 by a communication company in Tianhe City, Guangzhou, and he had never used the mobile phone number to register an online car account.
Mr. Chen found through the online ride-hailing customer service inquiry that the online ride-hailing users who used the mobile phone number have been using the number to request a car for the past year, and there was still a single online car arrears that had not been paid in January 2022.
Mr. Chen said that he had been buying this number for more than a year and did not understand why the former owner could still use the mobile phone number to register an online car account. "If I want to use this mobile phone number to register an online ride-hailing account, don't I have to help him pay back the money first?"
Then Mr. Chen called the mobile customer service, the other party said that the user needs to call the App platform by himself, Mr. Chen is very dissatisfied, "I don't know how many Apps the former mobile phone owner has registered, do you want me to call the platform one by one?" ”
Not only that, Mr. Chen also found that the WeChat account of the mobile phone number had been registered. Previously, some Shandong netizens said that their mobile phone number change forgot to unbind WeChat, and the new number owner logged on to the user's WeChat through a text message and defrauded 6,000 yuan from his relatives and friends.
Zhang, who lives in Hunan, came to Guangzhou last year to go to university and opened a new mobile phone number, he once received a call from the "predecessor" number of the mobile phone number, and the other party said that the account of one of his Apps was still bound to this mobile phone number, and a verification code was sent to this mobile phone number, and He asked Zhang to tell him the verification code. Zhang thought that he could not confirm the identity of the other party, so he refused. After that, the other party often called and texted to harass Zhang.
The picture shows That Mr. Chen, a citizen of Guangzhou, has never been to Yunyang County, Chongqing, but has received many text messages from the Shuangjiang Street Office of Yunyang County.
"Second-hand numbers" have major hidden dangers
Why do users buy used phone numbers? Did the salesperson inform you when you first made the purchase? Mr. Chen found a communication company in Tianhe City, Guangzhou, where he bought a mobile phone number, and the staff of the company said that the mobile phone numbers released by the 136, 137, and 138 sections are basically second-hand, and some are even third-hand and fourth-hand, and if you want to buy a brand new one, it is basically 187 and 188. "If the customer hadn't asked, we wouldn't have said it." The staff said.
The relevant person in charge of China Mobile Guangdong Branch said that due to the scarcity of mobile phone number resources, when the number used by customers is sold, it will first be frozen for a period of time, and then reissued to new customers, according to the relevant requirements of telecommunications service specifications, the telephone number freeze time limit is as short as 90 days.
A staff member of a communication company in Tianhe City, Guangzhou, said that the cancellation of numbers is generally divided into active cancellation and passive cancellation. For users who take the initiative to cancel the number, the staff will inform them to unbind the relevant binding in time; but for the users who owe the fee and cancel the number, there will be a situation where the binding between the mobile phone number and the third-party platform is not lifted after the number is canceled.
Deng Yong, a shenzhen consumer dispute review expert and a lawyer at Beijing TECO (Shenzhen) Law Firm, believes that in the past, after the cancellation of the mobile phone number, "calm" for a period of time will not have much impact on the use of subsequent number owners. However, with the rise of the mobile Internet, all kinds of App applications must be bound to mobile phone numbers, and the function of mobile phone numbers is not limited to the communication level. Therefore, the mobile phone number that is re-put on the market after the "cooling off period" may still remain inextricably linked to the App application.
So after the mobile phone number is logged off, can the operator unbind the relationship between the user and the major App applications? The relevant person in charge of China Mobile Guangdong Branch said that before the cancelled mobile phone number is re-released, the original China Mobile related business will be thoroughly cleaned up. However, the binding relationship between the number and other third-party accounts is not controlled by the operator.
The reporter's investigation learned that the third-party company did not know whether the mobile phone number had been cancelled at the communication level and when it was cancelled. A staff member of an online car company revealed to reporters that there was a user who called a very far away online car, did not take the initiative to pay after getting off the car, and then the mobile phone number was cancelled, and the online car account bound to the mobile phone number was no longer used, and the fare was also delayed, "We will send a text message to remind users to pay the fare, but there is really no way to contact." ”
This means that because operators and third-party companies have not yet established a communication mechanism on whether the user's mobile phone number has been cancelled, it not only restricts the right of new users to use the app normally, but also the third-party company suffers economic losses.
Expect the number to be cancelled "full process"
Ms. Wang of Shenzhen believes that spending the same money to buy a second-hand mobile phone number is not worth it, "I specifically asked when I bought the mobile phone number, and the staff said that there is no difference between the new mobile phone number and the old mobile phone number in terms of price and package, and the old mobile phone number is not more favorable, but the old mobile phone number has a difference in the use of rights, I can't accept it." ”
Deng Yong believes that when the recycled mobile phone number is re-enabled, the operator should protect the interests of new users. When operators make secondary sales of mobile phone numbers, they should inform consumers that the number is a second-hand mobile phone number, which may bring inconvenience or loss to consumers, otherwise it will infringe on consumers' right to know and choose.
In addition, when a new user with a mobile phone number encounters a situation such as the number being occupied, this means that the consumer's normal use right is restricted. After receiving a complaint from a new user, the operator shall take the initiative to contact the third-party platform and unbind the mobile phone number corresponding to the original user from the platform, so as not to infringe on the rights and interests of consumers and third-party platforms.
Meng Bo, a lawyer at Beijing Jingshi Law Firm, believes that operators can try their best to unblock the business bound to the app before the number in various ways, and can try to join forces with the Internet platform to establish a system, and notify the major platforms when the user cancels the mobile phone number. It is reported that some communication operators have launched an Internet registration cleaning service, which can clean up the registration information of mobile phone numbers in some Internet enterprises. "I also look forward to more Internet platforms joining in to jointly protect users' normal use rights." Meng Bo said.
Source: Xinhua Viewpoint