Chinese police detain 101 suspected transnational fraudsters

HANGZHOU, Nov. 11 -- Since mid-June police have arrested 101 suspects implicated in transnational-telecom crimes involving 20 million yuan (2.94 million U.S. dollars), the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) announced Friday.

Of the suspects, 76 were from the mainland and 25 from Taiwan and they have been linked to 135 cases currently under investigation, the MPS said.

The fraudsters had targeted victims living in the eastern province of Zhejiang, and police across the province first began to receive complaints about telecom and Internet fraud in April this year. The subsequent investigations led to outfits based in Cambodia, where the suspects were allegedly swindling victims out of their money by pretending to be government or law enforcement officials.

Chinese police captured 39 suspects, 14 from the mainland and 25 from Taiwan, in Cambodia, and seized the apparatus they had been using.

Following the arrests and raids in Cambodia, and under the coordination of the MPS, police departments from seven provinces in China carried out multiple raids and arrested 62 suspects and dismantled three transnational fraud outfits.

Around 590,000 telecom fraud cases were reported in 2015, involving the loss of 22.2 billion yuan.