China cracks 258,000 telecom fraud cases in 2025

China's public security authorities cracked down hard on telecom and online fraud nationwide in 2025, solving 258,000 related cases and curbing the surge of such crimes, the Ministry of Public Security said on Thursday.

At a press briefing in Beijing, the ministry said police forces across the country operated under unified deployment and in accordance with laws including the Anti-Telecom and Online Fraud Law, which took effect in late 2022. The intensified efforts aimed to better safeguard the lawful rights and interests of the public.

Through targeted operations, the ministry arrested and busted a total of 542 financiers, ringleaders and core members of fraud syndicates, according to the ministry.

In partnership with other competent departments, police intercepted 3.6 billion scam phone calls and blocked 3.3 billion fraudulent text messages, while urgently freezing 21.707 million yuan in funds linked to fraud activities.

Police across the country also carried out 6.747 million in-person warnings and dissuasion talks to prevent potential victims from falling prey to scams, the ministry said.

Zhang Ming, spokeswoman for the ministry, said international law enforcement cooperation remained a key pillar of the crackdown.

"Based on bilateral and multilateral channels, we have dispatched working teams to Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia and other countries on multiple occasions to carry out police and law enforcement cooperation, destroying a large number of overseas scam dens. In response to the severe situation of telecom and online fraud crimes involving Chinese nationals in Myanmar's Myawaddy area, China has established a tripartite coordination mechanism with Myanmar and Thailand. So far, more than 7,600 Chinese suspects involved in telecom fraud in the Myawaddy area have been repatriated to China," she said.

China cracks 258,000 telecom fraud cases in 2025

China will release data on foreign trade in goods for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) as a whole, as part of the broader efforts to further advance the area's development.

The move is included in a package of 20 measures recently unveiled by the General Administration of Customs to support the development of the GBA, a world-class city cluster bringing the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions together with nine mainland cities in the economic powerhouse of Guangdong, including Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Zhuhai.

Currently, trade data for the region's mainland cities, Hong Kong and Macao, are compiled separately under different statistical systems, making it challenging to derive aggregate figures for the region through direct addition.

Chinese mainland customs authorities will work with counterparts in Hong Kong and Macao to study and compile aggregate data on trade in goods for the GBA and release it in due time, said Lin Shaobin, an official with the General Administration of Customs.

The data will support more accurate analysis of trade trends and structure in the region, while giving the public a more complete picture of its economic performance, Lin noted.

The GBA, one of China's most open and vibrant economic hubs, has shown strong resilience and vitality in foreign trade. In the first four months of this year, the imports and exports of the nine mainland cities in the area climbed 18.4 percent year on year to 3.4 trillion yuan (about 497.3 billion U.S. dollars), contributing around one-quarter of the country's overall foreign trade growth.

China to release foreign trade data for Greater Bay Area