By Eric Carlson and Scott Livingston
On Friday, August 8, 2014, a Chinese court convicted British fraud investigator Peter Humphrey and his wife, Yu Yingzeng, a naturalized US citizen, of illegally obtaining personal information. Mr. Humphrey was sentenced to two and a half years in prison and fined RMB 200,000 (about US $32,000); Ms. Yu was sentenced to two years in prison and fined RMB 150,000 (US $24,000). For more information on the original arrests and Mr. Humphrey’s subsequent confession on state-owned TV, please see our earlier blog post here.
The husband and wife team ran a China-based consulting firm, ChinaWhys Co., that specialized in providing risk advisory services to multinational companies doing business in China. Under China’s Criminal Law, companies and individuals are subject to criminal penalties for illegally selling or obtaining the personal information of others where such violation is “serious.” Prosecutors alleged that the couple violated the law’s prohibition on illegal obtainment by collecting 256 personal information records, including hukou (city residential permit) information, family information, and travel and phone records. According to prosecutors, ChinaWhys purchased this information for RMB 800 to RMB 2000 (about US $130 to $325) per record and used it in background investigation reports prepared for ChinaWhys’ clients.Continue Reading Fraud Investigators Imprisoned for Illegally Collecting Personal Data in China