China toughens crackdown on fraud

BEIJING -- China has launched a nationwide campaign to crack down on fraud as it has seen a fast growth of swindling cases, the Ministry of Public Security said.

The operation, codenamed "Cloud Sword 2020," focuses on combating fraudulent acts, in particular telecom scams, and tackling unsolved homicide cases.

Describing the crackdown as a major task for 2020, Du Hangwei, vice minister of public security, urged police across the country to curb the growing momentum of telecom fraud and crack accumulated criminal cases by using new technologies.

In 2019, Chinese police cracked about 200,000 cases of telecom fraud and captured around 160,000 suspects, marking a year-on-year increase of 52.7 percent and 123.3 percent, respectively, the ministry said.