China police dismantle massive student data leak affecting 790,000 records

Police in Sichuan province uncovered a large‑scale student data‑selling ring. investigators recovered a USB drive containing more than 790,000 personal files from 18 localities, detailing names, ID numbers, household registration, schools, classes, exam scores, teachers and parents’ contact information. The leak originated from insiders – a deputy principal, a head of admissions and other school staff – who passed the data to a central broker who distributed it to recruitment agencies. These agencies used the information for targeted enrollment calls and received commissions based on the number of students they recruited. A second USB with about 100,000 additional records was later found in a neighbouring area, while other data was destroyed or lost during the investigation.