"Shocked!" "Quick look!" "Critical!" , headlines like this, I'm sure we've all seen it when browsing social media. I just looked at the title and thought that something earth-shattering had happened, but after clicking on it, I found that it was simply some content that caught the wind and exaggerated it. In fact, there is nothing wrong with changing the title of the article and increasing attention. However, some lawbreakers have targeted social hotspots and emergencies, and have vigorously disseminated "title party" online articles on the Internet through methods such as creating something out of nothing and malicious splicing, and as long as someone clicks on it, it will become the target of online black industry harvesting.
Recently, the police in Suining, Sichuan Province smashed a cybercrime gang that maliciously diverted traffic for the "headline party" and provided technical assistance, arrested a total of 7 people involved in the case, and cleaned up 7,966 pieces of harmful information.
In April 2023, the police in Daying County, Suining, Sichuan Province, found that a large number of appalling and eye-catching "headline party" online articles appeared on the Internet, and these online links were widely spread in the WeChat groups and circle of friends of local citizens.
Wen Jie, Deputy Captain of the Cyber Security Brigade of the Daying County Public Security Bureau of Suining City: The titles of these links are very eye-catching, such as related links and WeChat articles such as secrets and emergencies, as well as some related WeChat articles and links in terms of entertainment, such as the secrets behind such and such a star, and the forces behind such and such a star.
Under the investigation of the police, Xia, a local citizen of Suining who frequently posted and forwarded the online articles of the "Title Party", entered the police's field of vision and was summoned for investigation in accordance with the law. According to Xia's confession, by chance, she saw someone on the Internet providing part-time information, and all she needed to do was to move her fingers to forward the online link, and the more traffic she clicked, the more she would be paid.
Wen Jie, Deputy Captain of the Cyber Security Brigade of the Daying County Public Security Bureau of Suining City: Because Xia didn't know what the content of the article was at first, she would click on it when she saw that the title of the article was very big and attractive. Over time, she will know what the content is, she will not read it, she will see it directly and then forward it to other WeChat groups.
The police analysis found that the routine of profiting from the "Title Party" online article is roughly divided into 3 steps:
- The first is to look for some hot events and hot topics in society as an introduction to online articles;
- Then draw up a thriller, sensational, or sympathetic title, and the publisher doesn't care whether the content of the online article is real or not, and some are even advertisements throughout;
- Then, through the development of a large number of downlines to share and forward, deceive netizens to click to obtain traffic, so as to earn advertising revenue.
The "Title Party" online article comes from the applet software
According to the police, after Xia became familiar with the routine of making money with the "Title Party" online article, she decided to do it herself, she not only built a lot of chat groups to develop offline, but also purchased a small program on the Internet that specifically generated the "Title Party" online article, so as to get more traffic.
According to the investigation of the Suining police, since Xia had a small program dedicated to the production of "Title Party" online articles, she began to make relevant online links, and added illegal advertisements such as gambling and pornography to them, and then spread them in chat groups.
The applet purchased by Xia is actually a "title party" online text platform with automatic generation function, which pre-fabricates a variety of "title party" web text templates, and when you use it, you can directly generate a web link by simply changing the title, and what the content is not important to Xia.
Zhou Chunfeng, Captain of the Cyber Security Brigade of the Daying County Public Security Bureau of Suining City: The difficulty of editing is not great, there are templates, and there are a large number of templates provided in this cloud scene software, more only need to change the title, and the content in it may not change, the requirements for the production are very low, and the production is very fast.
Wen Jie, Deputy Captain of the Cyber Security Brigade of the Daying County Public Security Bureau of Suining City: When she was found, she felt that she was doing nothing about it, and Xia felt that it was normal to only forward some things on the Internet. Their behavior actually constitutes an act of picking quarrels and provoking trouble, and if it reaches a certain amount, it constitutes illegal business.
According to the police investigation, as of April 2023, Xia used the mini program to publish a total of 23 links to the "Title Party" online text, obtaining more than 50,000 yuan in advertising revenue. According to Xia's clue, the Suining police discovered an online black industry chain that specializes in concocting "title party" online articles to deceive traffic, and then obtain advertising revenue.
In order to evade supervision, the developer added the "anti-blocking" function
The police investigation found that the "Title Party" online text production applet purchased by Xia has another function, that is, it can evade the supervision of the platform, and after the user generates the "Title Party" online text link, the URL link will be automatically changed every time it is forwarded, so that the illegal link cannot be completely blocked. So who exactly is the developer of this software?
According to the clues they had, the Suining police quickly locked down the development and operation enterprise of the "Title Party" online text production software, a network technology company in Chengdu and its legal representative, Zhang. In June 2023, the task force organized more than 20 police officers to go to Shandong, Jiangxi, Guangdong and other places to arrest 7 people, including criminal suspects Zhang and Wang.
Wen Jie, Deputy Captain of the Cyber Security Brigade of the Daying County Public Security Bureau of Suining City: We learned about Zhang's background, and found that this person is usually engaged in the second-hand mobile phone market, and he inadvertently saw that there are some netizens on the Internet who want to buy software requirements for editing and producing articles, and he himself knows a little bit of technology, and then he made a website called "Cloud Scene" by himself.
According to Zhang's confession, after the website was launched, he found that the most used function by customers was to edit and produce "title party" online articles, initially because these online links were easy to find and ban by the platform, which also led to the number of users began to decrease. In order to retain customers, Zhang found a partner Wang and developed another embedded software called "Anti-Sealing System 4.0".
According to the police investigation, Zhang's criminal gang provided a large number of "title party" online text templates and automatically generated functions, and then sold the right to use it at prices ranging from 2,000 yuan to 3,500 yuan, as of June 2023, the number of software purchased by Zhang reached 1,293, and a large number of "title party" online articles loaded with illegal advertising information were spread on the Internet.
The main culprit was sentenced to one year in prison for maliciously diverting traffic for the "title party".
Zhang and others clearly knew that the software they developed was being used by others for illegal purposes, but still facilitated the dissemination of illegal information. In March this year, Zhang was sentenced to one year in prison for aiding information network criminal activities.
According to the investigation of the Suining police, in order to attract more users and make profits, Zhang continued to publish part-time information through various social platforms, and used the gimmick of making money by forwarding links at home with a few fingers, and soliciting customers to use the "Title Party" online text production software.
Zhou Chunfeng, Captain of the Cyber Security Brigade of the Daying County Public Security Bureau of Suining City: Generally, an account will add twenty or thirty links or advertisements, and this part of the advertising is charged by the minute, and the income of an advertisement for 1 minute is about a dime, and an account is calculated 24 hours a day, and this income is also considerable.
In order to avoid legal risks, Zhang and others will not directly participate in the production and dissemination of "Title Party" online articles, but they have developed a large number of "Title Party" online text templates stored in the software, and in addition, he will also guide software buyers on how to use and how to attract traffic and monetize.
As of June 2023, 1,293 users have purchased the software developed by Zhang and others, and the police have fixed a total of 7,966 pieces of harmful information released by the software. In addition, as of September 30, 2023, public security organs in many places across the country have opened 17 criminal cases based on relevant clues, arrested a total of 69 people involved in the case, closed 18 accounts, and cleaned up more than 2,000 pieces of harmful information.
On March 5 this year, Zhang, the leader of the criminal gang in the case, was sentenced to 1 year in prison by the Daying County People's Court of Suining City for the crime of aiding information network criminal activities; On July 5, Wang Moumou, a member of the criminal gang in the case, was sentenced to one year in prison with a one-year and six-month probation for the crime of providing tools for intruding into computer programs.