BEIJING: The number of prosecuted telecom fraud cases and associated crimes skyrocketed from January to October, and the prosecution of such crimes will keep rising, according to a report issued by the Supreme People’s Procuratorate on Thursday.
Efforts to combat telecom fraudsters, particularly those with operations overseas, have intensified in China. In the first 10 months of the year there was an increase of nearly 52 percent in national procuratorial prosecutions, with over 34,000 individuals involved.
The recent crackdown on transnational telecom fraud groups has led to the mass apprehension and repatriation of individuals engaged in fraudulent activities abroad. Consequently, it is expected that the number of prosecutions for telecom and online fraud cases will continue to rise in the coming months, it said.
While the prosecution of the crime of aiding online criminal activities remains high, the rate of increase has gradually slowed. From January to October, national procuratorial authorities filed charges against over 115,000 individuals for such crimes, up nearly 13 percent year-on-year, with the growth rate declining by 2.2 percentage points year-on-year.
The slowdown is partly attributed to administrative penalties imposed for actions such as renting or selling bank cards. The trend of simple rental or sale of bank cards has diminished, replaced by practices requiring face verification during card transactions, often falling under the category of concealing and disguising illicit gains, it said.
The report highlighted that the prosecution of offenses related to concealing and disguising illicit gains has seen a significant surge, becoming the second-largest associated crime with telecom fraud, following the crime of aiding online criminal activities.
From January to October, national procuratorial authorities filed charges against over 104,000 individuals for concealing offenses, a year-on-year increase of nearly 80 percent. The behavior of selling cards and using facial recognition verification has gradually become mainstream. Some of the behaviors that were originally targeted as crimes of aiding online criminal activities have been reclassified as crimes of concealment.
Law enforcement authorities have intensified efforts to pursue assets and mitigate losses, resulting in increased control over asset transfers, also contributing to the surge, it said. –The Daily Mail-China Daily news exchange item
