Despite strengthened control of online lending platforms that target students, college students continue to fall prey to online loan sharks, which points to the failure of regulatory authorities to combat such scams.

In March, a college student in Central China's Henan province committed suicide for failure to repay the money he had borrowed through a number of online lending platforms. The first amount he borrowed was not high, but given the high interest rate, commission charges and surcharges for delayed payment, he continued borrowing to repay his initial, unending debt.

In April, the Ministry of Education and the Chinese Banking Regulatory Commission issued a document, requiring colleges to establish a monitoring and warning system to protect students from the schemes of irregular online lending companies.