The situation of crime of telecommunications network fraud is still serious and complicated. The Ministry of Public Security said it will take maximum measures to prevent such crimes from happening.

The situation of telecommunications network fraud crimes remains severe and complex. On January 10th, the Ministry of Public Security held a special press conference in Beijing to report on the achievements of national public security agencies in safeguarding national political security and social stability, providing high-level security for high-quality development, and safeguarding the advancement of Chinese-style modernization.

Zhang Ming, spokesperson for the Ministry of Public Security, stated that since the deployment of the special work to combat telecommunications network fraud crimes involving Northern Myanmar in July 2023, the Ministry of Public Security has relied on the China-Myanmar law enforcement security cooperation mechanism, instructing public security agencies in Yunnan and Zhejiang to carry out joint operations and fully investigate the cases. As of the end of 2024, more than 53,000 Chinese citizens suspected of fraud have been arrested, with the destruction of the infamous “Four Families” crime group in Northern Myanmar’s Guokuo region. The phased significant achievements in the special work have led to a significant drop in the number of telecommunication network fraud cases and losses nationwide. The cases of the “Four Families” crime group have entered the litigation process.

“Although we have achieved remarkable results in our crackdown, we are also aware that the current situation remains severe and complex,” Zhang Ming said. Firstly, these crimes are still at a high incidence rate. Telecommunication network fraud remains the main type of crime with high incidence, large losses, serious harm, and strong public反响. Secondly, there is a clear transnational organized characteristic, with fraud groups having a strict organization, some implementing closed-off management, and using violence to illegally control the underlying personnel in their nests. At the same time, fraud leaders and backbone members direct people in China to engage in various illegal crimes such as APP development,引流推广, and transfer money laundry, with a close connection between China and overseas. Thirdly, fraud methods are constantly evolving. Fraudsters closely follow social trends and personal preferences to tailor fraud scripts for people of different age groups, occupations, and educational backgrounds, with a wide range of victims. Fourthly, overseas nests remain large in scale. The situation of fraud crimes involving Northern Myanmar has improved significantly, but there are still many “technology parks” and “development zones” overseas that provide venues for telecommunication network fraud. Fifthly, the offensive and defensive confrontations continue to intensify and upgrade as fraud groups use new technologies such as blockchain, virtual currencies, and AI intelligence to continuously update and upgrade their crime tools.

Zhang Ming stated that in response to the severe and complex crime situation, public security agencies nationwide will always adhere to the development concept of putting the people first and following the “four expertise and two synergy” work思路 to deeply promote special actions such as “Yun Jian”, “Duan Liu”, and “Ba Ding”. They will maintain a high-pressure态势of crackdown. For overseas fraud nests, they will fully carry out international law enforcement cooperation, persist in targeting and pursuing them, destroy overseas fraud nests, and通缉major fraud fugitives. For domestic gray industry gangs, they will conduct deep investigations and research, organize cluster battles and regional wars without interruption, fully reveal and clean up domestic promotion and引流, transfer money laundryand other gray industries related to fraud, and resolutely cut off the key links of domestic crimes. At the same time, the Ministry of Public Security will continue to promote industry governance in collaboration with relevant departments, strengthen early warning and prevention, strengthen the prevention network, prevent cases from happening to the maximum extent possible, and protect people’s “moneybags” effectively.