The person you are calling

Jiangxi province in China has come up with a new way to make people pay their debts. In future, those debtors blacklisted by the Higher People's Court in the province will suffer the ignominy of having all calls to their phone number prefaced with this:

The person you are calling has been put on a blacklist by the Higher People's Court of Jiangxi for failing to repay their debts. Please urge the person to fulfill their legal obligations.

Judge Zeng said that compared to traditional ways of exposing 'laolai' this was '… more effective. They usually just repay their debts because they don't want to lose face to their friends and relatives.'

Not a bad idea, although given that I have not made or received an actual phone call for some years now (why would I, when instant messaging apps with video calling options are free and ubiquitous?), the impact may not be as thorough as hoped.

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