Han Ximin

A MAN was detained by Shenzhen police for using a false Web site to cheat customers across the country out of 400,000 yuan (US$51,948) by promising to sell them cheap mobile phones.

It is said to be the biggest online fraud case cracked by Shenzhen police since the beginning of the year, sources from the bureau said Friday.

Police received a report from a resident surnamed Zhang in Jiangsu on Feb. 26, saying he was forced to pay an extra 2,000 yuan as a deposit when he tried to buy a Samsung mobile phone online at www.ddsz.cn.

"After I paid 1,170 yuan for the mobile phone, which is generally available for around 3,000 yuan, to a man named Chen Han, he demanded another 2,000 yuan with the excuse that the mobile phones had been confiscated by customs," Chen said in his report.

Police investigations showed that while the Web site www.ddsz.cn. bore the name of Shenzhen, the server actually was located in Jincheng City, Shanxi Province. It was a false and unlicensed Web site, with a fake address, phone number, user's name and ID number.

Police investigated the bank accounts for the Web site and found three accounts opened by a man named Chen Chujie, who received around 400,000 yuan over the past year. But police could not locate "Chen Chujie" because all the information on the Web site was false. Instead, Shenzhen police checked bank withdrawal records of "Chen Chujie."

On April 2, police found "Chen Chujie" at an ATM in Luohu after a seven-day surveillance, and followed him to his apartment where they found four computers, six mobile phones, 32 bankcards and 10 account books.

The suspect's name was Chen Chuzhen, and he had opened a bank account with his brother's ID card, who was in jail for drug trafficking.

Over the past month, Chen, 25, had cheated around 70 people across the country using the Web site, falsely offering mobile phones at around hundreds of yuan below market prices.