Block all overseas calls: police in multiple Chinese cities issue ‘urgent reminder’ as anti-fraud drive scaled up

Turn off incoming overseas calls to avoid scammers and ‘protect your money’, police in at least three provinces warn on their social media accounts
Flurry of public appeals is part of drive to combat rampant online fraud by scaling down mobile users’ exposure to platforms seen as difficult to police

Crime in China

Yuanyue Dangin Beijing

Published: 7:00pm, 8 Jun 2023

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Police in at least three provinces in China have called on residents to block all incoming overseas calls if they did not have regular contacts outside the mainland, saying this will protect them from telecoms fraud.

Online messages posted over the weekend by police in Xuzhou and Lianyungang in the eastern province of Jiangsu advised residents on ways to turn off the “receive overseas calls” function.

“Urgent reminder! Please turn off incoming calls from overseas!” police in both cities said on their official WeChat accounts.

“The anti-fraud centre of the Public Security Bureau reminds you that if you do not need to receive incoming overseas calls, you can take the initiative to turn off the function to reduce the risk of being scammed and protect your money!” the posts added, referring to the bureau representing the main civilian police force in China.

The same notice was issued earlier last week by police in Sanming, in the southeastern coastal province of Fujian.

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Police in Weifang, in eastern Shandong province, reposted a Ministry of Public Security instructional video on battling telecoms scams, as part of a similar anti-fraud warning late last month on their official account on Weibo.

They then described in detail how customers of the country’s three major telecoms operators – China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom – could stop receiving calls from abroad. A service to automatically block all incoming overseas calls was launched by the three carriers last year.

The flurry of public appeals is part of China’s campaign to combat rampant online fraud, by systemically scaling down mobile users’ exposure to communication means the authorities find hard to police.

A new law to tackle growing telecoms and online fraud that came into force in December gives enforcement agencies the power to hunt down suspects overseas, and makes it mandatory for telecoms firms and banks to help hunt down fraudsters.

And late last month, police in multiple Chinese cities urged parents to delete encrypted messaging apps from their children’s smartphones to prevent their becoming an “accomplice” to fraud.

Apps to be guarded against included the home-grown Seagull, Shimida and Miliaomao, as well as foreign ones such as Telegram, WhatsApp and Twitter – which are blocked in China and can be accessed only via a virtual private network.

However, the authorities’ high-handed approach to tackling telecoms fraud has also raised questions.

An anti-fraud app rolled out nationwide in March 2021 sparked public complaints about forced installation and data privacy breaches.

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The “National Anti-Fraud Centre” app was developed by the public security ministry and the computer emergency response team under the Cyberspace Administration of China – the country’s top internet regulator. Authorities say it is designed to warn users of any calls, text messages or installed apps suspected of being associated with fraudulent activities.

China should “win a new victory in the people’s war against fraud”, Wang Xiaohong, the minister of public security, told officials at a meeting on combating telecoms fraud on May 30.

“We should further intensify our efforts to resolutely break the arrogance of criminals and ensure that the trend of a high incidence of telecoms and online fraud crimes is effectively contained,” Wang said.

According to the latest figures released by the ministry, 464,000 cases of telecoms fraud were solved nationwide last year, up 5 per cent from 2021.