Targeted approach

Guo said she is still puzzled by the wide range of frauds, especially those that use personal information.

"When someone phoned and promised to get me a refund on a car purchase, accurately citing my name, ID card number, work address and the time I bought the car, it was hard to disbelieve them," she said.

Gao, the Beijing officer, said swindlers are increasingly using personal information to confuse their targets, adding that many netizens have been cheated due to blind trust and poor risk awareness.

In September, a China Internet Network Information Center report showed that by the end of June, 17.2 percent of netizens had been defrauded online last year.

Meanwhile, data from the Supreme People's Court, the top court, revealed that the sums involved in such fraud reached 35.4 billion yuan last year alone.

As a public hazard, a frequent crime and a problem nationwide, online fraud has attracted the attention of the authorities, including the Ministry of Public Security, because solving the problem relates to public interests, social stability and financial security.

In 2019, the Beijing Public Security Bureau opened a hotline to help people report online cheats. In addition to collecting fraud-related information, officers call victims via the number when they discover that they may have been targeted, asking if they have lost money and reminding them to be alert. The hotline has been expanded nationwide.

Furthermore, every police station in Beijing has been ordered to arrange to have at least one officer to quickly contact residents via the hotline if fraud is suspected, advising them not to transfer money, Gao said.