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Global Times | May 25, 2012 00:40



Police from the Chinese mainland and Taiwan, working with law enforcement agencies in six countries, on Wednesday busted a major
transnational telecom fraud group, seizing 482 suspects involved in fraud worth 73 million yuan ($11.5 million), the Ministry of Public
Security announced Thursday.

Among the 177 suspects from the mainland, 126 were escorted from Thailand and Malaysia to Beijing Thursday. Another 286 suspects
are from Taiwan, while the remaining 19 are from Thailand and Myanmar, the Ministry of Public Security said in a statement, noting that
due to intensified crackdowns, mainland criminals began to recruit people from Taiwan to work for them and move their criminal dens
overseas.

The ministry hailed the case as another successful example of international police cooperation.

On November 29, a finance manager of an investment company in Jiangsu Province reported to the Suzhou police that their company
had been cheated out 12.6 million yuan ($1.98 million). After six months of investigations, a transnational telecom fraud group was
found to be operating across the Taiwan Straits and in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia, Sri Lanka and Fiji. The group is
suspected of committing 510 acts of telecom fraud in the mainland.

On Wednesday's crackdown in Thailand, Lin Shengzhi, the alleged gang leader responsible for the November 29 case, and all 19 major
suspects were seized by police, who also found a large quantity of equipment used in the fraud, including bank cards, cell phones,
computers and web servers.

The criminal suspects posed as anti-money laundering law enforcement officers who needed to investigate the victims' bank accounts
or express delivery employees that demand their victims pay in advance before delivering the item, according to the ministry, which
asked citizens to raise their awareness against such fraud and not to wire money to strangers.