China launches anti-fraud awareness campaign

A policeman introduces telecom fraud countermeasures to passengers at the Shihezi Railway Station, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Jan. 10, 2020. (Xinhua/Zhao Ge)

BEIJING, April 27 (Xinhua) -- Chinese authorities on Tuesday launched a nationwide campaign to enhance the public awareness of fraudulent practices, along with a month-long publicity drive to combat telecom and internet frauds.

It is better to prevent the crime in advance than to crack down on it afterward, said Du Hangwei, vice minister of public security, calling for active public participation from all walks of life in the country's efforts against such illegal activities.

Last year, Chinese police cracked 322,000 cases involving telecom and internet frauds and arrested 361,000 suspects, which helped avert economic losses worth 459.8 billion yuan (about 70.9 billion U.S. dollars), official data showed.