ID card holders in double trouble
By Li Xinran |
June 23, 2010, Wednesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
MORE than 1 million Chinese permanent residents share their identification card number with at least one other person in the country due to mistakes in registration during the issuance of the country's first generation ID cards from 1986.
Most of the errors have not been rectified yet but they can be found online on a nationwide database of citizens' personal information and credits, according to the Beijing Evening News.
Victims of the mistake are granted an instant alteration to their ID number with expenses covered by the state though there are fears some of them might have been wrongly blamed for wrongdoings committed by a stranger holding the same ID number.
This can lead to problems when applying for credit or other banking or public services, said the newspaper.
A Shaanxi Province native surnamed Cui was held by police at a hotel after he arrived in Henan Province for business early this month as he had the same ID number as a drug trafficker.
A woman, who moved from Guizhou Province to Beijing more than 20 years ago, was refused banking services because a former schoolmate in her hometown had the same number.
The woman, who declined to be identified, persuaded her friend to change her number as she owned far fewer personal documents that would have to be altered.
Without that agreement the first woman would have had to apply to alter many of her documents, including her passport, driver's license, property ownership certificate, pension fund account and medical insurance.
Just altering the passport would have cost 200 yuan (US$29.37) plus half a day off work to handle the process.
Usually, neither party with the same number is willing to change because of the amount of time and expense involved.
"It's unfair to let us cover the expenses as it was all the police's fault," the woman said.
Police only issue victims with a new ID plus a rectification certification so the victim could apply to alter other documents.
Most of the errors have not been rectified yet but they can be found online on a nationwide database of citizens' personal information and credits, according to the Beijing Evening News.
Victims of the mistake are granted an instant alteration to their ID number with expenses covered by the state though there are fears some of them might have been wrongly blamed for wrongdoings committed by a stranger holding the same ID number.
This can lead to problems when applying for credit or other banking or public services, said the newspaper.
A Shaanxi Province native surnamed Cui was held by police at a hotel after he arrived in Henan Province for business early this month as he had the same ID number as a drug trafficker.
A woman, who moved from Guizhou Province to Beijing more than 20 years ago, was refused banking services because a former schoolmate in her hometown had the same number.
The woman, who declined to be identified, persuaded her friend to change her number as she owned far fewer personal documents that would have to be altered.
Without that agreement the first woman would have had to apply to alter many of her documents, including her passport, driver's license, property ownership certificate, pension fund account and medical insurance.
Just altering the passport would have cost 200 yuan (US$29.37) plus half a day off work to handle the process.
Usually, neither party with the same number is willing to change because of the amount of time and expense involved.
"It's unfair to let us cover the expenses as it was all the police's fault," the woman said.
Police only issue victims with a new ID plus a rectification certification so the victim could apply to alter other documents.
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