A man was sentenced to one and a half year in prison on Sunday for the first known case in China of violating the security of personal information, Guangzhou Daily reported.

Zhou Jianping set up a spy office in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, in November last year selling personal information like phone number, and call histories.

In December 2008, a man named Lin Guiyu visited the office and bought 14 officials' phone numbers and call history. Lin then pretended to be the vice mayor of Zhuhai, Guangdong, and cheated 50,000 yuan (US$7,322) from his relatives, conspiring with another six accomplices.

The gang committed five such crimes and cheated 830,000 yuan (US$121,554) falsely using the name of officials and cities including the party secretary of Foshan and En'ping city.

The criminals were sentenced to three to eleven years in prison.