China contains rise in telecom fraud: ministry

BEIJING - Chinese police solved 83,000 cases of telecom and Internet fraud in 2016, up 49.6 percent year on year, according to the Ministry of Public Security.

The ministry noted that the number of cases has dropped significantly since last September.

The increase in telecom and Internet fraud has been contained, the ministry said in a statement, adding that economic losses caused by telecom and Internet fraud in 2016 decreased by 10.9 percent year on year.

Last year, Chinese police dispatched work teams to several countries, including Kenya, Laos, Malaysia, Cambodia and Spain, and took back 561 telecom fraud suspects, the ministry said.

In 2016, police nationwide busted nearly 7,700 telecom fraud rings.

According to the ministry, Chinese police have successfully stopped bank transfers to 73,000 fraud accounts and recovered 1.13 billion yuan (around $164.8 million) since June 2016 when banks and police nationwide began cooperation to respond to telecom fraud.