125 arrested in nude online chat fraud scheme

A total of 125 people who went to Indonesia to allegedly carry out cross-border telecom fraud through nude chats conducted online have been formally placed under arrest, according to Beijing prosecutors.

The Fangshan District People's Procuratorate announced on Wednesday that they have recently approved the arrest of dozens of fraud suspects, who stand accused of multiple crimes including blackmail, fraud and leaving China illegally.

According to a report by China Central Television in August, some of the suspects first attracted victims by posting pornographic information online, and then used hired female livestreaming hosts to pose nude and chat with them.

The livestreamers guided the victims to perform indecent acts on camera while secretly recording them, and then told the victims that the images would be published unless they agreed to pay the hosts a certain amount of money, the report said.

Fearing that their acts would be exposed, the victims agreed to send money to the livestreamers, the report said, adding that the blackmail led some of them to incur large debts or even commit suicide because of the pressure exerted on them.

In recent months, judicial authorities in China and Southeast Asian countries have strengthened joint efforts to combat telecom fraud.

On Tuesday, the Ministry of Public Security said that law enforcement authorities in northern Myanmar have recently transferred 31,000 telecom fraud suspects to China. Sixty-three of the suspects are accused of being masterminds and key figures working behind the scenes in the operations of scam groups, while 1,531 had been on wanted lists.