China indicts 52 per cent more cyber scammers than last year as country cracks down on fraud rings

Top prosecutor’s office says it has indicted 34,000 people in first 10 months of the year, with about half of them involved in overseas syndicates

The number is expected to increase in coming months as many suspects arrested in Myanmar are extradited to China

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China’s top prosecutor’s office warns that the technologies involved in cyber fraud have become cheaper and more available. Photo: AP

Published: 9:00pm, 30 Nov 2023

China indicted 34,000 people for cyber fraud in the first 10 months of this year, an increase of 52 per cent compared to the same period last year, as the country vowed to intensify its crackdown on rampant online scammers.

The Supreme People’s Procuratorate said in a statement on Thursday that the number of indictments was expected to increase in the coming months because a large number of suspects had been extradited to China recently.

Following the arrests of several kingpins behind cybercrime syndicates in northern Myanmar in November, mainland media said many suspects had been sent back to China.

A total of 17,000 people were indicted for taking part in overseas cyber syndicates in the first 10 months, up 5.3 per cent compared to the corresponding period last year. Their victims were mostly in mainland China.

China also stepped up its crackdown on human smugglers who help suspects or victims of human trafficking cross the border into neighbouring countries. The country indicted nearly 2,000 people for coordinating human smuggling and another 5,000 for taking people across the border illegally, an increase of 16 and 75 per cent respectively.

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