Chinese, Cambodian police apprehend 9 wire fraud organization masterminds

BEIJING, Jan. 12 (Xinhua) -- Chinese and Cambodian police have teamed up to apprehend nine mastermind suspects believed to be behind cross-border telecom and cyber fraud cases.

The total amount of money involved in the fraudulent activities of these suspects surpassed 100 million yuan (about 14.78 million U.S. dollars), according to investigation results.

Over recent years, many Chinese have fallen prey to cross-border fraudsters. Investigations by the Chinese police showed that criminal rings behind several ten-million-yuan level fraudulent cases are based in Cambodia.

Through joint efforts between China and Cambodia, as well as Interpol, a substantial amount of criminal evidence was accumulated, and the Cambodian police managed to arrest nine criminal suspects and handed them over to Chinese authorities.

More than ten other criminal suspects voluntarily returned to China and turned themselves in to the police.

Since June 2022, Chinese authorities -- including the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate and the Ministry of Public Security -- have driven a campaign aimed at cracking down on major criminals suspected to be involved in telecom and cyber fraud rings.

So far, more than 240 out of the 490-plus criminal suspects on the campaign's most-wanted list have been apprehended.