Chinese official highlights success of anti-scam operations; concedes more work to do

A senior Chinese official has highlighted that China is one of the largest victims of telecom and online fraud globally, with hundreds of thousands of people defrauded every year and losses amounting to tens of billions of yuan.

Addressing the International Conference on Combating Online Scams (ICCOS) in Phnom Penh today, Yang Weilin, Chinese Vice Minister of Public Security, noted that his government has long been committed to cracking down on and suppressing online scams.

International law enforcement cooperation

“China has always insisted on zero tolerance for fraud crimes and has continued to carry out unremitting and resolute struggles. On the one hand, it has continuously intensified efforts domestically, conducting regular crackdown and governance work to comprehensively eliminate the soil for crime.

“On the hand, it has actively fulfilled its international obligations and used bilateral and multilateral coordination mechanisms to jointly clear scam compounds and dens. The situation of gambling and fraud crimes in Southeast Asia has markedly improved,” he said.

Yang raised three high profile individuals, among others, which have been apprehended through cooperation with Cambodia. He called those figures “behind-the-scenes financiers and organisers of gambling and fraud crimes”, including Chen Zhi, Li Xiong and Liu Ren.

Extraditions of major criminal figures

Chen Zhi, the founder of Prince Group, was arrested and extradited to China in January for his part in “pig-butchering” scams and other illegal business operations. The US seized roughly $14–15 billion in bitcoin linked to the operations.

Li Xiong is the former chairman of Huione Group, a financial conglomerate involved in payments, currency exchange, insurance and banking services in Cambodia. The group is reportedly linked to the Prince Group. He was arrested and extradited in April.

Liu Ren was reportedly running Jinbei Group, which involved online gambling before transformed into online scam. He was arrested and deported to China in June.

Global reach and ongoing challenges

According to Yang, China works closely with other countries in the region. Through China-Myanmar cooperation, they have dismantled the “Four Major Families” criminal groups in northern Myanmar.

“Chinese and Thai police have jointly promoted the lawful extradition of criminals such as She Zhijiang, forming a powerful deterrent,” he said, adding that China has also continued extensive cooperation with countries and regions in Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas, including the United Arab Emirates, Vietnam, Laos, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Madagascar, Kyrgyzstan, the US and Spain.

He said that although the results have been remarkable, fraud crimes have not been completely eradicated. Fraud-related personnel continue to flow around the world, black and gray industries related to such crimes remain persistent despite crackdowns, and the crime situation remains complex.

He called for cooperation, and not politicising the issue.

“We must never politicise the fight against transnational crime, still less engage in stigmatisation or confrontation,” he said.

He also saw positive aspect of Cambodia’s effort to combat the crime, through measures such as strengthening legislation, strictly enforcing the law, punishing corruption and enhancing international cooperation.

“Through these efforts, Cambodia has sustained special operations against fraud, cracked down hard on criminal groups, cleared large-scale gambling and fraud compounds within its territory, and arrested and repatriated tens of thousands of people involved in fraud, achieving remarkable results that are plain for the international community to see,” he said.