Telecom fraud blamed in death of college applicant

Police step up coordination overseas against scams

The number of telecom fraud cases in China has seen a sharp rise in recent years, resulting in significant financial losses for those who have fallen prey to scam phone calls. Many families have been left destitute.

In the first half of this year, 287,000 cases were reported nationwide, with losses totaling 8 billion yuan ($1.2 billion).

Authorities have handled 50,000 cases, finding more than 20,000 people guilty of telecom fraud since June last year. During the same period, more than 4,000 telecom fraud rings have been cracked.

Since April, police departments have stepped up coordination with other countries to crack down such crimes, detaining 295 suspects from countries such as Kenya, Malaysia, Cambodia and Laos.

Last year, nearly 600,000 cases were reported nationwide, an increase of almost 50 percent from the previous year, with victims scammed out of a total of 22.2 billion yuan. Half of that total flowed into bank accounts in Taiwan. Only a fraction of the amount has been recovered.

Chen Shiqu, a deputy inspector at the criminal investigation bureau of the Public Security Ministry, said only 200,000 yuan has been recovered in recent years. In most of the cases, criminals from Taiwan set up bases in countries such as Malaysia, Uganda and Turkey before hiring mainlanders to carry out the deception.

In April, police in Guizhou province cracked China's biggest telecom fraud case, in which 117 million yuan of public money was taken from the construction bureau of the Economic Development Zone in Duyun city.

By Zhang Yi