Hospital scalpers nabbed with facial recognition tech

An alarm was triggered when a scalper tried to register at Beijing Tongren Hospital to see a doctor based on the facial recognition technology, according to a report from www.cctv.com on Monday.

Security immediately caught the scalper, who attempted to register at the hospital to sell his appointment for a higher price.

His information was then collected in the citywide facial recognition system.

According to the hospital, Beijing has adopted facial recognition technology to crack down on hospital scalpers, subjecting them to detention and credit restrictions since February this year.

Around 30 hospitals in Beijing have adopted this system. They have collected visual data on 2,100 suspected hospital scalpers and entered it into their facial recognition systems.

Information on the scalpers - many of whom have been fined by the police - includes photographs and ID numbers. If they enter a hospital, they will be monitored. The alarm will be triggered when they register at the front desk.

More than 900 such scalpers were detained last year during a citywide crackdown.