Photo taken in Guangzhou on Spet 2 shows police walk the 129 Chinese telecom fraud suspects down from a flight from Armenia. [Photo: Xinhua/Liang Xu]

A joint notice issued on Friday offered criminals involved in the telecom fraud lighter penalties as long as they turned themselves in to the Chinese authorities before the end of October.

The notice was issued by the six top Chinese authorities, including The Supreme Court, The Supreme Procuratorate, the Ministry of Public Security, China's central bank, and China's Banking Regulatory Commission.

All persons engaging in the illegal telecom fraud will face smaller sentences if they turn themselves in and cooperate with the police.

Offenders have to cooperate with police until the end of October. Those who continue pursuing fraud activity will face severe consequences. 

Law authorities will accelerate investigations into phone fraud cases, hoping to curb the increasing amount of cases throughout the China.

More measures are being carried out to ensure the safety of citizens in utilizing cell phones and money transitions.

Phone users are now required to provide their personal ID card when obtaining a mobile number and no one can hold more than five phone numbers.

Three major telecom companies launched a cleanup campaign targeting unregistered phone numbers. They plan to ensure all phone numbers are registered before the coming year.

Commercial banks have been asked to look into any illegal bank cards they may have issued. Bankcard holders generally cannot hold more than four cards from one bank.

Chinese authorities will continue to pursue illegal sales of personal information in order to prevent more telecom crimes.