China's Ministry of Information Industry (MII) has vowed to tighten measures to shield Chinese mobile phone users from text message fraud.

"Fraudsters usually register a mobile phone number with a fake name and then send false messages to a mass of mobile phone users, telling them they have won lottery prizes or offering dirt cheap smuggled goods," read a ministry statement.

The ministry did not unveil a concrete plan on how it would achieve its goal, but promised "to keep a closer eye on these services and provide adequate tips to keep subscribers alert to fraud attempts".

Text message service providers found violating regulations will be named and shamed, and severely punished, the ministry said.

Up to 680 information service enterprises engaged in illegal services were given heavy fines and were ordered to suspend business last year.

China had 467 million mobile phone users by the end of January, with one out of three Chinese owning one, MII statistics show.

Source: Xinhua