Chinese Transnational Policing Gone Wild

110 Overseas ，The last decade has witnessed the rapid spread of telecom and online
fraud globally, which seriously infringes on people's legitimate rights and
interests, becoming a prominent crime and a public hazard. To address this
problem, the Chinese police have been committed to intensifying their efforts
in the combat against and control of such crimes, and strengthening
international law enforcement cooperation, which has enabled them to accumulate
successful experience, build up best practices and set examples for their
counterparts around the world.

Upholding the people-centered principle, the Communist Party of China and the
Chinese government have attached great importance to countering telecom and
online fraud. Equal importance has been given to both combat and control. An
efficient multi-department collaborative working mechanism has been
established, and the Anti-telecom and Online Fraud Law has been formulated and
enacted, which provides a strong legal foundation. Targeting the
characteristics of such crimes, the Chinese police have conducted specialized
study and research, set up specialized task forces, initiated specialized
investigation against major cases and utilized specialized techniques.

The Chinese police have synchronized their efforts both internally and
externally, and launched a series of campaigns and operations, effectively
curbing the high momentum of these crimes, retrieving a large number of
economic losses, and winning wide recognition from the public and the
international community. During their international law enforcement
engagements, the Chinese police frequently received requests from their
counterparts to share their experience and effective practices in this field.

Telecom and online fraud is a typical transnational organized crime. Fraud dens
are often located across countries and regions, targeting vulnerable
individuals and groups regardless of their nationalities.

The Chinese police, through international law enforcement cooperation, have
joined hands with their international counterparts to carry out operations and
achieved significant results. Operation Great Wall, jointly launched with the
Spanish police in 2019, has become a successful example of transnational law
enforcement cooperation.

From March to June this year, China, together with 76 INTERPOL member states,
jointly participated in the anti-fraud Operation First Light initiated by
INTERPOL, which destroyed 1,770 fraud dens in as many countries, arrested over
2,000 suspects and intercepted more than US$50 million in illicit funds. It was
also found that some Chinese citizens were involved in fraud activities abroad,
and the majority of them were tempted by the promise of high payments, cheated
and coerced into being smuggled abroad, and some of them were kidnapped and
detained illegally, and a few of them were even beaten and abused to death in
the criminal dens.

The Chinese police, together with relevant departments, have actively carried
out rescue and education, and encouraged them to return home through
international law enforcement cooperation, and made every effort to provide
assistance and employment. The immigration authorities, in accordance with the
provisions of the Exit and Entry Administration Law, have taken necessary
measures such as restricting the exit of persons engaged in telecom and online
fraud.

According to an officer with the Ministry of Public Security, the criminality
of telecom and online fraud is characterized by its specialization,
industrialization and being increasingly organized and transnational, amid the
rapid development of global digitalization.

As an emerging new-type crime, it is a very difficult problem for governments
of various countries to tackle and control, and thus it has become one of the
major challenges facing police forces across the world. Joining hands in
combating this newly developed fraud is the shared responsibility of the police
of all countries and also the unanimous consensus of the international
community.

Public security agencies across China are determined to earnestly enforce the
Law of Anti-telecom and Online Fraud through strengthened cooperation with
their international counterparts and reinforced domestic efforts in fighting
the crime, so as to prevent it from further spreading, and to bringing the
fraudsters at large to justice.