Cross-border anti-fraud work successful

Chinese police want to strengthen cooperation with their counterparts in Southeast Asian and African countries on cross-border telefraud after recently busting 11 Chinese syndicates located in Laos.

The police escorted 191 suspects back from Laos to Henan province on two chartered airplanes on Friday. They were linked to more than 800 fraud cases in various provinces and regions across China that involved more than 60 million yuan ($8.9 million), according to the Ministry of Public Security.

The crackdown was a joint action by Chinese and Lao police.

The Chinese police will continue advancing pragmatic judicial cooperation with their foreign counterparts on some major telefraud cases, said Chen Shiqu, deputy director of the ministry's criminal investigation bureau.

Since last year, Henan province has reported a string of telefraud cases in several cities. The suspects convinced the targets on social media that they can earn money by "click farming" - generating likes or high ratings for fake orders to help boost the sales on e-commerce platforms, the ministry said.

The victims completed and paid for the orders and instead of earning money, their payments simply vanished. They ranged from 5,000 to 30,000 yuan.

Local public security bureaus deployed by the ministry launched an investigation and found the criminal operation centers located in Laos. In December, Chinese police flew to Laos and, supported by the Chinese embassy there, continued the investigation together with local police.

Officers raided the operations recently, busting 11 gangs, capturing 191 suspects and seizing a large number of bank cards, computers, mobile phones and scam scripts, the ministry said.

The crackdown is part of the latest special campaign initiated by the ministry in December and is planned for one year nationwide.

Telecommunication and internet crimes have been rising in recent years, and suspects have started to eye Southeast Asian or African countries to set up their fraud networks, Chen said.

"With the help of internet technology, foreign suspects usually directed the Chinese suspects to pretend to be customer service personnel or law enforcement officers to target people on the Chinese mainland," he said.

By using fake identities to buy lots of phone cards, they call Chinese victims claiming that their personal privacy or credit card information had been leaked or stolen, he said. He said they are frequently involved in money laundering, drug trafficking and smuggling.

"They ask the victims to follow their orders and transfer their money to a designated 'safe bank account', offered by the suspects, to 'guarantee' the money is protected," he said.

To curb cross-border crimes, Chen said, law enforcement officers in China and other countries will establish an effective working mechanism and meet regularly to exchange information and discuss major concerns.

They will also enhance joint investigations to smash cross-border fraud rings and nab the main suspects, he added.