Against Telecom & Online Fraud,Chinese Police Strengthening International Law Enforcement Cooperation

Recent decade has witnessed the rapid spread of telecom&online fraud globally, which seriously infringes on people’s legitimate rights &interests, becoming a prominent crime and a public hazard. To address this problem, the Chinese police have been committed to intensifying their efforts in the combat and control of such crimes, and strengthening international law enforcement cooperation, which enabled them to accumulate successful experience,build up best practices and set examples for their counterparts around the world.

Upholding the people-centered principle, the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese government attach great importance to countering telecom & online fraud. Equal importance has been given to both combat and control, an efficient multi-department collaborative working mechanism has been established, and Anti Telecom & Online Fraud Law has been formulated and enacted, which provides a strong legal foundation. Targeting the characteristics of such crimes, the Chinese police has conducted specialized study and research, set up specialized task forces, initiated specialized investigation against major cases and utilized specialized techniques. The Chinese police have synchronized the efforts both inside and outside, and launched a series of campaigns and operations, effectively curbing the high momentum of these crimes,retrieving a large number of economic losses, and winning wide recognition from the public and the international community. During the international law enforcement engagements, the Chinese police have frequently received requests from its counterparts to share the experience and good practices in this field.

Telecom & online fraud is a typical transnational organized crime. Fraud dens are often located across countries and regions,targeting at the vulnerable individuals and groups regardless of their nationalities. The Chinese police, through international law enforcement cooperation, has joined hands with international counterparts to carry out operations and achieved significant results.Great Wall Operation, jointly launched with the Spanish police in 2019, has become a successful example of transnational law enforcement cooperation. From March to June this year, China,together with 76 member states, jointly participated in the anti-fraud Operation First Light initiated by INTERPOL, which destroyed 1770 fraud dens in many countries, arrested over 2000 suspects and intercepted more than US $50 million in illicit funds. It is also found that there are some Chinese citizens involved in fraud activities abroad, and the majority of them were tempted by promise of high payments, cheated and coerced to smuggle abroad, some of them were kidnapped and detained illegally, and a few of them were even beaten and abused to death in the criminal dens. The police, together with relevant departments, has actively carried out rescue and education,and encourage them to return home through international law enforcement cooperation, and made every effort to provide assistance and employment. The immigration authorities, in accordance with the provisions of the Exit and Entry Administration Law, have taken necessary measures such as restricting the exit of persons engaged in telecom & online fraud.

According to a relevant officer with the Ministry of Public Security, the criminality of telecom & online fraud is featured with its specialization, industrialization and being increasingly organized and transnational, amid the rapid development of global digitalization.As an emerging new-type crime, it is a very difficult problem for governments of various countries to tackle and control, and has become one of the major challenges facing the police forces across the world. Joining hands in combating this newly developed fraud is the shared responsibility of the police of all countries and also the unanimous consensus of the international community. The public security agencies across China are determined to enforce earnestly the Anti-telecom & Online Fraud Law through strengthened cooperation with the international counterparts and reinforced domestic efforts on fighting the crime, so as to prevent the crime from further spreading and to bring the fraudsters at large to justice.