TWO people were approved to be arrested by prosecutors Tuesday for stealing over 20,000 yuan (US$3,022) from bike-sharing app users, the Nanfang Daily reported yesterday.

Two suspects, Yang and Wu, got acquainted with each other online. Yang taught Wu how to use software to modify the information of user accounts on a bike-sharing app, which allowed them to withdraw the users’ deposits on the app to their own WeChat accounts.

As the bike-sharing app allows users to “adopt” the app-based bikes to earn a profit, Wu found that they could also steal the earnings from the “bike adopters” on the app.

According to the report, Yang and Wu stole over 20,000 yuan from 34 users within two days by illegally logging onto their accounts through different computers and phones.

Several users noticed the suspicious activity and reported the cases to customer service.

After shutting down the system and launching an investigation, the bike-sharing company located the loopholes in its system that allowed the criminals to illegally enter others’ accounts. Users’ information could be modified by background operations in the system and some users’ accounts weren’t linked with their WeChat accounts.

Both suspects were approved by prosecutors to be arrested Tuesday. The app operator has compensated the involved users for their loss.

(Zhang Yang)