Whoever has permanent property is firmly confident. Based on article 13 of the Constitution of the People's Republic of China that “the lawful private property of citizens may not be encroached upon”, the property rights of the people have been comprehensively clarified in articles 113 to 117 in Chapter 5 Civil Rights of the General Provisions of the Civil Law to implement the requirements of the CPC Central Committee on the legal protection of civil rights and the improvement of the protection of property rights.2706323 Property Fraud infringes the property right directly, interferes with financial safety and social credibility, and influences social stability seriously. Among different types of property fraud, communication information fraud2706324 is hard to prevent due to the use of high technology, diversified means, and frequent changes. It is challenging for the public security department to track down relevant cases and make up the losses of the victims, so it has become an important kind of case influencing the people's sense of security.2706325 Communication information fraud often includes telephone fraud, SMS fraud, and Internet fraud. There is not a strict distinction among these forms and fraudsters often adopt the combination of several forms. Among them, Internet fraud has become the major way of communication information fraud, which is of increasing harm to the property security of the people.

In recent years, the per capita loss for property fraud in China has increased year by year and “Post-00s” have become the primary targets. By the first half of 2018, 12052 nationwide cases of Internet fraud have been reported nationwide, involving a total amount of 194.193 million yuan. The per capita loss was 16,000 yuan, up by 11.8% as compared to 14,000 yuan in 2017. The amount of loss had increased nearly 8 times in 4 years. Among the victims of Internet fraud from 2014 to the first half of 2018, “Post-00s” accounted for 38.6% of the total while the percentages for “Post-90s”, “Post-80s”, “Post-70s”, “Post-60s”, and other age groups were 31.9%, 11.6%, 5.0%, 1.0%, and 11.9% respectively.2706326 Fraud happens more frequently and concentrated in developed areas, reflecting that fraudsters are focusing on certain regions. In addition, the occurrence of traditional fraud remains high while new-types of fraud continue to emerge. With the innovation of methods for fraud to be more deceitful, it shows the development tends to be more diversified and targeted (for the situation of major Internet fraud in the first half of 2018, see Figures 1 and 2). During the conference on cybersecurity and IT application for 2018, General Secretary Xi Jinping stressed that “we should crack down on crimes of telecommunication and Internet fraud and infringement of citizens' privacy according to the laws, cut off the interest chain, continue to impose high pressure, and safeguard the legitimate rights of the people.” To this end, the Chinese government has actively taken measures to enhance the efforts against property fraud and further ensure the safety of the people's property.

Figure 1 Major Types of Internet Fraud in the First Half of 2018

Figure 2 Distribution of Major Internet Fraud Reported in the First Half of 2018