99,000 telecom fraud suspects detained

Police have detained over 99,000 suspects accused of telecom and internet fraud across the country since June, an increase of 135.6 percent year-on-year, the Ministry of Public Security said at a news conference on Wednesday.

Public security authorities nationwide have closed more than 118,000 cases related to telecom and internet fraud, a 62.7 percent year-on-year increase, ministry officials said.

The crackdown on fraud was a part of a special campaign codenamed Yunjian, or "sword in cloud", launched by the ministry on June 13, and it was planned to conclude at the end of October but continued.

In order to ensure a safe and stable social environment at the end of the year, the campaign has been extended to January, and public security organs will continue to intensify efforts to fight such crimes, said Liu Zhongyi, director at the ministry's criminal investigation bureau.

The number of fugitives captured during the campaign reached 243,000, and 96 of them are on a list of top A-level warrants issued by the ministry.

"We have organized domestic police forces from 13 provinces and cooperated with foreign counterparts in Cambodia, the Philippines and Laos to crack down on cross-border crimes, and 2,553 suspects involved with telecom and internet fraud were sent back to China for trial," Liu said.

"In Europe, we have cooperated with the Spanish police, extraditing 229 suspects related to telecom fraud back to China, and in Mongolia, we have brought back 251 fugitives who committed crimes of fraud," he added.

"We are taking various measures to crack down on criminal activities related to telecom and internet fraud, including big data and artificial intelligence technologies, and such measures played a positive role in the campaign," said Sun Jinfeng, deputy director at the criminal investigation bureau of the ministry.