Hundreds of millions lost to mobile scam

China's telecom operators are losing hundreds of millions of yuan in unpaid mobile phone bills, the China Daily reported.

China Unicom's Beijing branch alone has lost tens of millions in the past four years. Beijing Telecom had been cheated out of hundreds of millions since it launched its mobile phone business in 1987, the paper quoted Beijing Wireless Bureau deputy director Zhao Jinxiang as saying.

The cheats usually register with the network under a false name and then apply for a new telephone number when their bill gets too high.

China Unicom vice-president Lu Jianguo said the problem was worse in cities where there was a large migrant population.