Telecom fraudsters cast long shadow(5)

Government efforts

For the past three years, telecom fraud cases have ranked among the top three types of crime in China, and taken place in terms of financial crime. Last year, the amount of money involved in fraud reported in China exceeded 2 trillion yuan, data from the Supreme People's Procuratorate show.

The central government attaches great importance to curbing such crimes with the rule of law, and departments at all levels are working together to combat fraud cases.

In April last year, the General Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the General Office of the State Council, China's cabinet, issued a document on fighting telecom fraud, requiring different departments to form a strategy to crack down on such offenses and associated crimes.

The authorities were also asked to improve the investigation and punishment mechanism regarding funds involved in fraud, and maximize the recovery of stolen goods.

In September last year, China's top legislature approved a law against online fraud, which took effect in December. This legislation provides special legal support for combating such crimes.

In July, the Commission for Political and Legal Affairs of the CPC Central Committee proposed enhancing law-based governance to combat telecom fraud and cut links in criminal chains from the source. The commission also called for a crackdown on overseas telecom fraud and domestic collaborators.

China has also cooperated with Myanmar, Indonesia, Thailand and other countries this year to crack down on overseas telecom fraud groups via a police cooperation mechanism. For example, law enforcement agencies in northern Myanmar have handed over 4,666 fraud suspects to China.

Due to a strict crackdown, since August, the number of telecom fraud cases and the amount of property losses in China have fallen year-on-year by 24 percent and 20.5 percent, respectively, the Ministry of Public Security said.