Southeast Asia Information Port News (www.dnyxxg.com) – Hotel room landlines made frequent outbound calls within a short period, causing the hotel front desk number to be flagged as a "fraudulent number." Hefei police in Anhui Province recently cracked a case involving aiding and abetting cybercrime under the guise of "high-paying part-time jobs."
According to Officer Feng of the Hefei High-tech Zone Public Security Bureau, staff at several local hotels noticed an unusual surge in outbound calls from some room phones within a short period and reported it to the police. Following the leads, the police quickly identified and arrested the suspect, Zeng Moumou.
After being apprehended, Zeng Moumou confessed to his illegal activities. He explained that in October 2025, while searching for part-time work online, he was attracted by a video promising "earn money by helping others." After leaving a comment, he was added to a financial exchange group. On October 12th, the group administrator posted an advertisement "Recruiting agents, 150 yuan per hour." Desperate to improve his financial situation, Zeng Moumou was tempted and contacted the advertiser. Under the promise of "guaranteed profits and all expenses covered," he provided his personal information, and the other party even booked a flight for him from another city to Hefei.
On October 14th, Zeng arrived in Hefei and, as instructed, picked up a package containing four devices resembling routers. After checking into the hotel, his "upline" remotely guided him via video call to connect the devices to the hotel room's telephone line. Although Zeng realized these devices were intended for "constantly making calls," and repeatedly heard reminders to "safety first" and "avoid cameras" to evade detection, he continued operating with a侥幸心理 (a gambler's mentality) lured by the high returns.
In the following days, under the direction of several upline individuals, Zeng traveled to multiple hotels in Hefei, responsible for testing, setting up, and maintaining the devices. He even followed his upline's instructions to hide the devices in the mattress crevices to avoid inspection. During this time, when hotel staff contacted him because of frequent outbound calls from his room phone, he used the lie fabricated by his upline—that "a friend is doing e-commerce"—to cover it up.
Officer Feng, the investigating police officer, explained that Zeng had set up virtual dialing devices. Fraudsters modified routers and other equipment using technical means, recruiting people to conduct caller ID scams in various hotels using the hotel internet. By leveraging the remote control capabilities of the equipment to conceal their real location, they disguised their scam calls as hotel calls, significantly lowering victims' guard.
An investigation revealed that Zeng, knowing his actions were illegal, set up equipment in three hotels, making over 600 outbound calls in just two days and illegally profiting 1,700 yuan. Currently, Zeng has been detained by police on suspicion of aiding and abetting cybercrime, and the case is under further investigation. (End)
