National Anti-Fraud Center

National Anti-Fraud Center
Other names国家反诈中心
Original authorsCriminal Investigation Bureau, Ministry of Public Security
Initial releaseMarch 10, 2021
Operating systemAndroid and iOS
Available inSimplified Chinese
TypeFraud prevention
LicenseProprietary

National Anti-Fraud Center (Chinese: 国家反诈中心; pinyin: Guójiā Fǎnzhà Zhōngxīn) is a Chinese fraud prevention and reporting mobile application developed by the Ministry of Public Security. It was first published in March 2021. The software claims that it can maintain telecommunications network security, create channels for reporting online fraud and raising awareness for fraud prevention.[1] The Chinese government claims that the app can be used to detect possible telecommunication frauds in addition to reporting them,[2] and heavily promotes its installation. The app was temporarily removed from the App Store in 2024 and 2025,[citation needed][3] but has since been restored.

Functionalities

The National Anti-Fraud Center app detects received calls, SMS and downloaded apps, and if suspicious content is found and identified as fraudulent, it will actively warn users. The app also provides a "I want to report" function, which enables users to submit suspicious cell phone numbers, SMS, websites, apps and other information to the public security department for processing. In addition, the app also pushes articles on fraud prevention to users to promote fraud prevention.[4]

For iOS devices, the app is only available for Apple Accounts with the region set to "China mainland" and cannot be downloaded from accounts set to other regions.[5]

Reception

The app has received mixed reception, with Chinese state broadcaster CCTV stating in September 2022 that the app had successfully intercepted 280 million scam calls and 400 million scam text messages.[6] However, despite government campaigns encouraging installation, the app was poorly received by some users. Quartz reported that the app received a rating of 2.6 out of 5 on the App Store.[1][7] An April 2024 paper examining anti-fraud assessment mechanisms in a Chinese district and university found that, despite the app's installation rate being heavily weighted as a performance metric, university officials considered it ineffective in practice. According to the paper, a university security official described the app as an "empty shell" that had not played its proper role in actually preventing fraud, particularly when compared to accountability measures targeting leadership and supervision.[8]

Controversies

The app has also faced many controversies. Citizens are reportedly forced to install it on their phone despite its excessive permission requests, privacy violations, and identifying and interrogating users who visit overseas financial websites.[9]

Registration for this application requires facial recognition, in addition to scanning the phone for installed applications.[10] It has been reported that citizens in cities like Shenzhen are forced to install it on their smartphone, leading to complaints.[11][12][13][14] Citizens who have visited foreign financial news websites like Bloomberg were reported by French state broadcaster Radio France Internationale to have been tracked by the app and interrogated by the police.[9][15]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "One of the world's most popular iOS apps right now was developed by Chinese police". Quartz. October 15, 2021. Retrieved August 28, 2023.
  2. ^ ""国家反诈中心"App正式上线，快来安装吧！". Changjiang Daily (in Chinese (China)). Ministry of Public Security News Center, Henan Province. April 30, 2021. Archived from the original on May 14, 2021. Retrieved May 8, 2021.
  3. ^ "QiMai Data". Archived from the original on May 11, 2025. Retrieved May 11, 2025.
  4. ^ "国家反诈中心 App - App Store". App Store (in Chinese). July 23, 2024. Retrieved February 20, 2026.
  5. ^ Open Tech Fund. "CHINA'S NATIONAL ANTI-FRAUD CENTER - SECURITY ASSESSMENT". Archived from the original on June 4, 2023. Retrieved May 30, 2023.
  6. ^ 戴萌萌. "公安部："百日行动"拦截诈骗电话2.8亿次、短信4亿条". news.cctv.com. Retrieved February 20, 2026.
  7. ^ "国家反诈中心 App - App Store". App Store (in Chinese). July 23, 2024. Retrieved February 20, 2026.
  8. ^ "电信网络诈骗治理中考核计分机制的分析与反思——以某区某高校做法为例". Hans汉斯. doi:10.12677/ojls.2024.124296. Retrieved February 20, 2026.
  9. ^ a b 古莉 (September 14, 2021). "中国警方利用两亿手机反欺诈APP 识别看境外金融新闻者" [Chinese police use anti-fraud app installed on 200 million phones to identify people who access financial news from abroad]. Radio France internationale. Archived from the original on October 24, 2021. Retrieved December 10, 2021.
  10. ^ 王纳 (March 16, 2021). ""国家反诈中心"app正式上线". Guangzhou Daily (in Chinese (China)). Archived from the original on April 29, 2021. Retrieved April 27, 2021. -{您可以在"国家反诈中心"app里快速检测全机已安装应用和未安装应用安装包，精准识别手机内可疑诈骗应用。}-
  11. ^ Xue, Yujie (April 12, 2021). "Anti-fraud app from Chinese police sees soaring downloads amid complaints of forced installs". South China Morning Post. Archived from the original on June 11, 2021. Retrieved April 27, 2021.
  12. ^ "多地強制市民安裝反詐騙APP 要求存取大量手機權限及個人資料" [In many places the public is forced to install anti-fraud app, requiring access to a large number of permissions and personal information]. Citizen News (in Chinese (Hong Kong)). April 22, 2021. Archived from the original on July 2, 2021. Retrieved May 8, 2021.
  13. ^ "中共推「反詐騙」App逼全民安裝 要求29項權限幾乎可遙控手機" [Chinese Communist Party forces everyone to install its "anti-fraud" app, demanding 29 permissions that it can almost control the phone remotely]. Apple Daily (in Chinese (Taiwan)). April 13, 2021. Archived from the original on June 28, 2021. Retrieved May 9, 2021.
  14. ^ 何清怡 (April 23, 2021). "中國大陸推反詐騙 APP ，被指強制民眾下載、侵犯私隱等，你如何看？". Initium Media (in Chinese (Hong Kong)). Archived from the original on June 28, 2021. Retrieved May 8, 2021.
  15. ^ Sun, Yu; Liu, Nian (September 14, 2021). "China uses anti-fraud app to track access to overseas financial news sites". Financial Times. Beijing. Archived from the original on December 3, 2021. Retrieved September 14, 2021.
allikas: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Anti-Fraud_Center