Off the wire
• China rejects U.S. report on worsening investment climate  • Chinese qualifier Zhang Shuai shocks Cornet to make AO third round  • Int'l horticultural expo to be held on old N. China mine site  • News Analysis: The difficult balancing act of China's housing market  • Urgent: Xi invites Egyptian president to attend G20 Hangzhou summit  • Urgent: China ready to join Egypt's major projects: Xi  • China Voice: Chinese, Arabs united in community of common destiny  • Dual-function debit card seeks introduction in Myanmar  • Urgent: China, Egypt sign MoU on boosting cooperation under Belt and Road Initiative  • Roundup: Myanmar's severe flood brings down rice export in 2015-16 FY  
You are here: 　 Home

China police bust gang suspected of prostitute scam

Xinhua, January 21, 2016 Adjust font size:

Chinese police have nabbed 43 suspected fraudsters who conned about 100 million yuan (15 million U.S. dollars) from overseas people who thought they were paying online for prostitutes.

Advertising sex services through messaging app WeChat, the gang induced victims to charge online gaming cards, electronic gift cards and Alipay prepaid cards and hand over their passwords. The gang then transferred the money without providing the prostitutes, according to the police.

Between October 2014 and March 2015, a number of Singaporeans reported the fraud to police in Singapore, who contacted their Chinese counterparts for assistance.

Hangzhou-based Alipay, China's largest online payment platform, received about 1,900 complaints about the scam between October 2014 and April 2015 and reported them to police in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province.

The police announced on Thursday that they busted the gang on Dec. 23 after an eight-month investigation in the provinces of Zhejiang, Hunan, Fujian and Jiangxi.

Some 23,000 cases of telecom and online fraud were reported in Hangzhou in 2015, up 33 percent year on year. Direct economic losses reached 360 million yuan, according to Hangzhou police, who busted 78 telecom and online fraud gangs and arrested 564 suspects in 2015. Endi