These days, phone scams are a fact of life. We’ve all experienced the frustration of answering a call from a loan shark or a rogue real estate agent. Usually, I simply blacklist the numbers; only recently did I realize just how cunning scammers have become.

A few weeks ago, I got a call from an unknown number. The unfamiliar voice on the line had a strong southern Chinese accent. “Ms. Zhang, could you please drop by my office tomorrow?”

Puzzled, I asked who was speaking. “I’m just calling from my personal number this time,” came the evasive response.

Feeling slightly awkward, I asked if I was speaking to my new boss. “That’s right!” the voice replied. “I’ll see you in my office at 9 tomorrow morning, got it?”

Relieved at having finally recognized who was speaking, I hastily agreed. But the next morning, half an hour before our appointment, the phone rang again.

“Hello? Ms. Zhang? Are you on the way to the office? I need to ask a favor of you. I need to get some small gifts for my superiors in the company, but I’ve not got any money on hand right now. Would you mind quickly transferring me some money, and I’ll pay you later today?”

That’s when the alarm bells started ringing. The man was a fraud. I knew my boss would never request something so extortionate from a new employee. I told the caller I had no money to give him, and cut the line immediately.

What surprised me was the level of detail he had acquired about my job situation. Beyond knowing my name and number, the man was uncannily familiar with the fact that I’d just started in a new position and was taking advantage of the fact that I may not yet know my boss well enough to judge his character.

Despite an official crackdown on telephone fraud, 590,000 cases were still reported last year, according to the Ministry of Public Security. This represents an increase of 33 percent compared to 2014 and total damages of 22.2 billion yuan ($3.3 billion).

According to a report by 360 Total Security, an antivirus software company, impersonation is one of the most common types of phone scam, accounting for one quarter of total cases. Fraudsters primarily take on the identity of “telephone operators, company bosses, and deliverymen.”

Some even pretend to be flight operators. A fraud victim from Lanzhou in Gansu province reported that as he sat in an airport boarding lounge, he received a text message claiming that his flight had been canceled, and he must contact customer services to reschedule. Below, it listed the number to call. As the timing of this message was so appropriate, the man unquestioningly called and transferred 11,530 yuan to the “operator” from a nearby ATM.

Two further cases involved the tragic deaths of two university students. In August, 18-year-old Xu Yuyu from Shandong province reportedly died of a heart attack after being swindled out of 9,900 yuan she intended to spend on her tuition fees. Early the following month, second-year student Duan Junke took his own life in Yunnan after handing over 5,000 yuan in tuition to phone scammers.

The Ministry of Public Security admits that such crimes show how telephone fraud is constantly evolving with technological advancement. Scams are well-organized with meticulous attention to detail, keep up with the latest social issues, and prepare a variety of scripts to target particular groups.

The pattern of crime is also highly regional and often a family affair. Seven key regions have been highlighted as hotbeds of Chinese telephone fraud. Among them are Feining County in Hebei province, Longyan City in Fujian province, and Dianbai District in Maoming, a city in Guangdong province — the place where my supposed “boss” was calling from.

Sixth Tone’s sister publication, The Paper, reported that scammers in Dianbai are normally close networks of family and friends across several generations. Profiting from such illegal activity is widely accepted among this community, and large new buildings have been constructed with the funds raised through telephone fraud.

These incidents have elicited questions about the efficacy of current policies aimed at eliminating such behavior. Since 2012, China has been home to 42 private network operators. Although most users are registered with the “Big Three” — China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Telecom — many users choose smaller or more localized networks.

These alternative networks seemingly harbor the majority of China’s phone scammers. Data from 360 Total Security indicates that 44 percent of phone numbers used by fraudsters begin with the digits 170 and 171, area codes not utilized by the Big Three.

There are likely three major reasons for this. First, it is much easier to register with a smaller network than a larger one. Unlike with the Big Three, users do not have to provide a full name or proof of identity. SIM cards are cheaper and easily obtainable on the internet. Finally, network supervision is generally laxer than that of larger, better-run operators.

A further issue is the leakage of massive amounts of often-confidential user information. Information is routinely extracted from financial institutions, shopping websites, real estate agents, insurance brokers, and delivery services before being traded at low prices online. State media agency Xinhua recently reported that students’ phone numbers are often sold for as little as 0.01 yuan.

The situation is ultimately compounded by the fact that lawbreakers have historically not been punished harshly enough. China did not amend its penalties for the illegal disclosure of private information until last November. The crime was extended from three to seven years’ imprisonment, accompanied by a fine.

However, in one case, only 10,000 yuan was paid back to a victim defrauded of 480,000 yuan. It is likely that such lenient punishments result in many cases going unreported.

In the time it took me to write this article, I was interrupted by three more cold calls. This time, as well as blacklisting the numbers, I added them to the online database at 12321.cn, a website that records fraudulent numbers across China. The emergence of sites like this represents the latest way civil society is pushing back against telephone fraud.

However, we must not overburden individual consumers with the responsibility to maintain vigilance against such activity; the fight must be led by industry actors themselves. Network operators must strengthen oversight of the way their services are used and be subject to penalties when it is found that they were left open to abuse. Similarly, the judiciary must offer protection to the victims of phone fraud and ensure that scammers are prosecuted in accordance with the full force of the law.

(Header image: A confiscated telephone is shown to the media by police in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, June 2, 2015. Liu Youzhi/VCG)