The drama only needed one spam message to kick off, but the leading figure never expected it to reach such a climax.

On a windy day earlier this year, Li Qiang, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, had a seductively titled text message containing a link slipped into his cell phone's inbox.

It was not until he clicked the link by chance more than two weeks later that he discovered a whole new world for his phone, or possibly for all Chinese cell phone users - mobile pornography.