Even China's tech billionaires not safe from phone scams

(Xinhua) Updated: 2016-04-28 08:26

Part of Lei Jun's post on Sina Weibo shows that the phishing messages were sent from 95555, the official hotline of China Merchants Bank. The first message reads: "China Merchants Bank notice: your account has been locked, please log onto m.cmbghna.com to register under your real name, or your bank card will be cancelled." The second message says: "China Merchants Bank urgent notice: your mobile bank account will expire today, please log onto m.cmbghna.com to register again and if no re-registration is conducted, your bank card will be cancelled."

His post showed screenshots of phishing messages he received over the past month. Phishing scams are designed to deceive a recipient into handing over sensitive information, usually by impersonating a legitimate business.

"Text message scams are so rampant. I just received another one. Everybody be careful!" Lei wrote.

"Dear customer, your mobile banking service will expire tomorrow. Please log on to [the site] for verification," said a message sent on Tuesday.

Lei has more than 13 million Weibo followers, and his previous posts focused on Xiaomi and other tech news. The rare complaint from a tech celebrity about the widespread scams has drawn thousands of replies and "likes" from social media users.