In recent years, incidents of maliciously applying for loans and credit cards using someone else's identity information have been frequently reported in the media. Legal professionals believe that on the one hand, it is related to the weak awareness of citizens' personal information protection, and on the other hand, it is due to some financial institutions not strictly implementing identity verification requirements when handling business. Old Wang from Jinzhou, Liaoning was asked to repay a loan of 790000 yuan, as well as nearly 80000 yuan in interest and overdue penalty interest, despite not having signed a loan contract or seen any money. What are the reasons for this? Recently, the Beijing Financial Court heard a case of fraudulently using someone else's identity to apply for a loan, resulting in the victim bearing a huge debt. Old Wang, who is in his fifties, once sought help online to apply for a loan of around 50000 yuan. But unexpectedly, with someone else's manipulation, Lao Wang not only became a "shareholder" of a pharmaceutical trading company in Jinzhou, but also signed a three-month loan contract with the bank with a principal of 800000 yuan. Due to Lao Wang's failure to repay and pay interest on time, he was sued by the bank to the court. After the second trial of the case, the truth emerged and Lao Wang finally got rid of the debt trap. In recent years, incidents of maliciously applying for loans and credit cards using someone else's identity information have been frequently reported in the media. Legal professionals believe that the occurrence of such situations is partly related to the weak awareness of citizens' personal information protection, and partly due to some financial institutions not strictly implementing identity verification requirements when handling business. On January 15, 2022, near the Spring Festival, Lao Wang suddenly received a subpoena from the court: "Wang, please appear in court online on February 8, 2022 to respond to the financial loan contract case." In court, the bank claimed that Lao Wang, as a "shareholder" of a pharmaceutical trading company, had signed a loan contract with the bank, with a total principal and interest of nearly 870000 yuan. However, Lao Wang stated that he had never heard of the pharmaceutical company, let alone being a "shareholder" of the company, and had never signed a loan contract with a bank. However, Lao Wang recalled that he once found someone online to apply for a small loan, and according to their requirements, he applied for the bank's card and opened an electronic bank. Later, he also entrusted someone to bring the card, security verification equipment, and ID card to the applicant. Lao Wang said that he had never received any loans from beginning to end, but when faced with evidence such as loan contracts and ID card images issued by the bank, he was at a loss for words. In the end, the first instance court ruled against Lao Wang and ordered him to repay the huge loan and interest to the bank. Li Hongzhi, a lawyer from Beijing Zeheng Law Firm, said in an interview with the Worker's Daily that personal identity information such as name, ID number and family address, personal property information such as income, real estate, vehicle, tax amount, provident fund deposit, personal account information such as account number, opening bank, balance, transaction password, verification code, and personal biometric information such as fingerprint and facial identification information are all personal privacy information, and the disclosure of these information may bring financial risks to individuals. Li Hongzhi said that criminals may use personal information obtained to impersonate acquaintances for loans, false investments, loans, etc., which not only causes property losses to users, but also may lead to damage to personal credit records. Similar incidents may also involve victims in relevant civil and criminal cases. Financial institutions should strictly implement verification requirements. Associate Professor at the Law School of the University of International Business and Economics and Director of the Digital Economy and Legal Innovation Research Center, Xu Ke, stated that the reason for using someone else's identity information to apply for loans is twofold: firstly, insufficient awareness of personal information protection, leading to sensitive information leakage; secondly, financial institutions have not strictly implemented corresponding verification requirements, resulting in potential risks and loopholes in management. After losing the first instance, Lao Wang decided to appeal. During the second trial, Lao Wang provided relevant evidence to prove that he did not participate in or was unaware of the loan involved in the case, and that his shareholder identity was also signed by someone else impersonating his identity. In the end, the court found that the loan contract "signed" by Lao Wang stated that such loans could only be applied for by the legal representative of the company, and Lao Wang was only a "shareholder" who owned 2% of the company's equity. He was neither the legal representative of the company nor authorized by the company to conduct lending business as a legal representative, so Lao Wang was not a qualified subject of the loan contract. The loan involved in the case did not enter Lao Wang's account or any account directly related to Lao Wang. The court held that the bank had obvious fault in signing and fulfilling the loan contract involved in the case, so the loan relationship between the bank and Lao Wang was not established, and Lao Wang did not bear the contractual responsibility for repaying principal and interest. At the moment he received the verdict, Old Wang felt relieved. Mou has also experienced situations where personal information has been fraudulently used. At the end of 2018, Mou went to a bank to apply for a loan, but was told by the staff that because he failed to pay off the arrears in the credit card in time, he had a bad record of default in the People's Bank of China Credit Information Center and could not apply for a loan. After investigation, Mou discovered that someone had stolen his information and applied for a credit card at another bank, and the credit limit had been exhausted. Mou's bad credit record was finally eliminated by suing the bank, verifying the handwriting at the signature of the credit card application form, and providing materials such as labor contracts and property certificates as proof. Finding a balance between convenience and compliance and security, economist Pan Helin told reporters that fraudulent use caused by personal information loss often occurs in small financial institutions, mainly due to the lack of compliance supervision coverage leading to violations. There may also be some salespeople who use personal information to complete tasks. In response, Pan Helin suggested that financial institutions should improve their internal compliance management processes and follow the rules. Financial institutions also need to find a balance between convenience and compliance and security in information collection. In addition, financial institutions should also take responsibility and establish sound internal information management mechanisms, such as requiring those who access information to leave a trace and strengthening information security protection through technological means. Li Hongzhi frankly stated that in the financial field, there are various channels through which personal information is stolen and abused, including but not limited to: criminals deceive consumers into entering personal information by forging official websites, sending false emails or text messages, and using customer service, recruitment, and marriage as excuses to collect consumers' pronunciation, facial information, and other means; Individuals using unsafe public Wi Fi in public places for financial transactions, clicking on websites of unknown origin, downloading and installing software or applications of unknown origin, resulting in information theft, etc. Falsely using and abusing others' personal information constitutes identity theft or involves the crime of infringing on citizens' personal information, and is subject to civil and criminal liability penalties. To avoid the misuse and abuse of personal information, individuals should also enhance their awareness of information protection Li Hongzhi gave an example that when encountering a request for personal information, it is necessary to verify the identity and authenticity of the other party's information; Financial transactions should use secure and reliable networks; When authorizing third-party applications to access personal financial information, it is important to understand the scope and purpose of their permissions to avoid unlimited authorization. With the online transformation of banks, traditional offline verification methods are gradually being replaced by low-cost and fast online methods. Licensing suggestions suggest that banks should enhance their own protection capabilities and big data recognition capabilities, and plug program and system vulnerabilities. (New Society)