China Phone and Internet Fraud Crackdown Continues

Authorities in the People’s Republic of China continue to busily extradite large gangs accused of running scams that target mainland China from overseas. 77 Chinese nationals were deported from Fiji whilst another 143 suspected fraudsters were arrested and expelled from Indonesia. Meanwhile, police in Latvia have detained 110 alleged scammers following a request from the Chinese authorities (which makes me wonder why European Union countries do so little to help each other fight cross-border fraud).

The Indonesian case prompted complaints from Taiwan, as 22 of the individuals taken from Indonesia are Taiwanese citizens. The People’s Republic of China does not recognize the Taiwanese government, and this has already led to instances of Taiwanese fraudsters being deported to mainland China from Spain and Malaysia.

In late 2016 the People’s Republic of China introduced harsh new penalties for anyone convicted of committing fraud over the telephone. Fraudsters found guilty of stealing more than CNY50,000 (USD7,500) can potentially be imprisoned for life.

Eric Priezkalns
Eric Priezkalns
Eric is the Editor of Commsrisk. Look here for more about the history of Commsrisk and the role played by Eric.

Eric is also the Chief Executive of the Risk & Assurance Group (RAG), a global association of professionals working in risk management and business assurance for communications providers.

Previously Eric was Director of Risk Management for Qatar Telecom and he has worked with Cable & Wireless, T‑Mobile, Sky, Worldcom and other telcos. He was lead author of Revenue Assurance: Expert Opinions for Communications Providers, published by CRC Press. He is a qualified chartered accountant, with degrees in information systems, and in mathematics and philosophy.