Nearly half of 938 people polled in an 11-month survey of four major cities said they have fallen victim to personal data abuse, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) said in its latest annual report on the country's legislation.

About 42.5 percent of the residents of Beijing, Chengdu, Qingdao and Xi'an polled in the study experienced infringements on their personal information, but the actual rate could be even higher, the CASS reported.

Seventy percent of the victims were harassed with advertisements and spam on their private phones by people who had obtained the phone numbers without the owners' knowledge, while 29 percent of the respondents found criminals using their identities without their knowledge, the report showed.