Nation ups ante against telecom fraud

The task force launched an operation and arrested 15 suspects, including Wang, in early June. Wang confessed that he communicated with the overseas fraud group via a messaging app and charged 1,000 yuan per hour for his services. By the time of his arrest, he had earned over 20,000 yuan. His media company was a shell company, created to purchase phone cards and allow him to pose as an external instructor at the school.

Complementing law enforcement actions was a large-scale prevention campaign. Police conducted 6.75 million face-to-face warnings for potential victims and tightened border controls to curb illegal migration to overseas fraud hubs.

In response to fraud groups' adoption of advanced technologies such as blockchain, AI deepfakes, and GOIP (GSM Over Internet Protocol) call-forwarding systems, Chinese authorities deployed matching countermeasures. The MPS utilized federal computing and privacy-preserving technologies to share data across agencies securely, resolving the "information silo" issue that hindered previous efforts.

Cui Xiandong, an expert from the Information and Communications Industry Anti-Fraud Center under the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, noted that to counter evolving fraud techniques, such as AI deepfakes and mass-produced fraudulent apps, the communications industry has introduced key tools like app anti-fraud certification, which reduced fraud by up to 90 percent in pilot tests.

The "anti-fraud business card" service provides authoritative identification for blocking fraudulent calls, with public security authorities issuing an average of 550,000 daily reminders. Efforts also focus on targeting devices supporting fraud-related communications.

"These initiatives are central to building a robust anti-fraud system and advancing the goal of a 'fraud-free world'," Cui said. He added that preventing online fraud requires societal participation, noting that the industry has launched a series of tools in recent years to form a comprehensive anti-fraud system covering risk warnings, governance, technological defenses, and public services.

Xie Shu, a professor from the China University of Political Science and Law in Beijing, stated during an event in 2025 that contemporary telecom fraud rings have evolved beyond small-scale, full-service operations. Instead, they have developed cross-platform, specialized division-of-labor chains, and they conduct targeted lead generation on one platform, then sell these "potential victims" as commodities to fraud-perpetrating rings on other platforms.

Perpetrators take advantage of information asymmetry, time lags and regulatory gaps between different platforms to carry out their criminal activities. This emerging trend has imposed new requirements on cross-platform collaborative governance, he said.