Police bring back 153 online fraud suspects from Indonesia

A total of 153 online fraud suspects who allegedly carried out cross-border "naked chat" extortion operations from Indonesia were returned to China on Wednesday evening, the Ministry of Public Security said.

The suspects were brought back by Chinese police on chartered flights, the ministry said. Their capture marks the resolution of more than 100 cross-border naked chat extortion cases filed in China, it added. Naked chat scams usually involve blackmailing or extorting money from an online victim by placing them in a compromising position.

Given the current surge in online naked chat extortion crimes, the ministry deployed public security bodies in Beijing and Shandong province to closely monitor major cases and strengthen analysis. After launching investigations, the police gathered information about major transnational extortion criminal groups operating in Indonesia.

In August, the ministry sent a special team comprised of officers from Beijing and Shandong to Indonesia to cooperate with local police on investigating the scams. On Aug 29, local police, with the support of Chinese officers, captured 88 suspects involved in transnational online extortion scams and seized a large number of devices used for committing such crimes.

Shortly after that, they uncovered several more extortion criminal hideouts in various locations in Indonesia, including Batam and Kalimantan. Then they launched another round of operations, and apprehended 65 more suspects.

An official from the ministry said law enforcement agencies will maintain their high-pressure crackdown on such crimes, deepen international law enforcement cooperation and increase efforts to combat these illegal activities to effectively safeguard the property and legal rights of the people.