40% more online crimes cracked in Beijing last year

Beijing saw a rise in the number of telecom and online frauds last year, with the police cracking down against such crimes in a big way.

The Beijing Public Security Bureau said on Friday that the police had cracked more than 12,000 telecom and online fraud cases in the city last year, up 40 percent year-on-year, and arrested more than 13,000 suspects, up 100 percent year-on-year.

The bureau said they had returned more than 130 million yuan ($20.3 million) to more than 5,000 people after cracking these cases.

The authorities made the details public ahead of the Chinese People's Police Day, which falls on Jan 10.

The police also took other measures to prevent residents from getting duped. They visited communities, schools and enterprises to alert them about new kinds of fraud while also using social networking sites to share such information.

Last year, the police had posted more than 200 videos and some 1,000 articles on social networking sites, warning people against falling for tricks played by strangers through suspicious phone calls or text messages.

The police also called on people to use technology — such as the livestreaming platform, smartphone applications and instant messaging tools — to fight fraud.