A PROSTITUTION ring that used the WeChat mobile phone app to find clients has been busted and five people were arrested, Shenzhen People’s Procuratorate said Tuesday.

    Prosecutors said the ring leader, surnamed Jiang, and two others, Zhang and Gu, opened WeChat accounts to present prostitutes as actresses and models and sell their services to WeChat users.

    One of the group chats had more than 500 members.

    In the chats, Jiang’s group presented pornographic images taken by professional photographers along with fake information about the prostitutes to promote the illegal services.

    They also used a company to post false content on websites to make it seem like the prostitutes were actually models or actresses from TV dramas.

    The women’s services fetched a price in the thousands of yuan after Jiang’s group had presented them with their fake identities.

    The group provided information about prostitutes through chat rooms. A prostitute’s location, appearance and price were discussed through WeChat. After the prostitutes had conducted business with the clients, they were required to pay fees to the group via WeChat. Women who did not pay the fees were kicked out of the group.

    “WeChat prostitution has become a new method of evading punishment as China strengthens its crackdown on pornographic crimes,” said Tao Ran, a prosecutor with Shenzhen People’s Procuratorate.

    China started a crackdown on the messaging app industry in May last year, targeting accounts that spread rumors related to terrorism. WeChat accounts dealing in pornography and fraud were also targeted.

    (Han Ximin)