BEIJING, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- About 240 million scam phone calls have been intercepted by an online anti-telecom fraud platform of China's Ministry of Public Security to date, said a spokesperson with the ministry Friday.

Besides phone calls, police departments also intercepted around 930 million scam text messages while shutting down about 328,000 mobile apps and websites related to fraudulent activities, the spokesperson said.

These efforts have prevented 12.42 million people from falling victim to such fraud, and prevented a collective financial loss of 242.75 billion yuan (about 37.5 billion U.S. dollars), according to the spokesperson.

Since 2020, the ministry has beefed up efforts in busting cybercrime and telecom fraud by enhancing cooperation with relevant departments and enterprises.