Guangdong police bust telephone fraud gangs

A senior police officer in Guangdong province has vowed to introduce more effective and concrete measures to crack down on telephone fraud.

"Telephone fraud is something that really disgusts people," said Zhang Rui, political commissar of the province's criminal investigation bureau.

"It is threatening residents' safety and disrupting the social order. The police will continue to spare no effort to fight against such fraud."

Zhang made the remarks at a news conference in Guangzhou, the provincial capital, on Tuesday, as he announced the arrests of 450 suspects connected with telephone fraud in a special operation code-named Jufeng 3 that was launched earlier this month.

The operation, which was carried out jointly with police in 11 provinces, regions and municipalities, broke up eight criminal gangs and uncovered 90 illicit hideouts.

"The suspects detained during Jufeng 3 were involved in more than 800 telephone fraud cases, worth about 10 million yuan ($1.46 million), and had a large number of computers, bank cards, SIM cards, identity cards and mobile phones in their possession that were seized," Zhang said.

"Despite these achievements, more operations will be organized in the following months."

Since the beginning of this year, Guangdong police have dealt with 1,640 cases involving telephone fraud and detained more than 900 suspected fraudsters, according to Zhang.