Guangdong police detain 270 suspects in telecom fraud crackdown

Police in south China's Guangdong Province have detained some 270 people implicated in telecommunications fraud, authorities said Tuesday.

In August, Guangdong Police launched an investigation into a frequently occurring telecom scam. The scam involved a phone call from someone claiming to be the boss of the victims who would ask them to transfer money to their accounts, according to Qian Bo, an official with the Guangdong Provincial Public Security Department.

The arrests were part of a wider crackdown, which saw police seize millions of items of data relating to people's personal information. The telecom gang contacted victims in Beijing, Tianjin and provinces of Guangdong, Shandong, Guizhou, Hubei, Guangxi, Hunan, Hainan, and Liaoning,Qian said at a press conference.

The gangs were highly organized and had clear divisions of responsibilities, Qian said.

One telecom fraud gang in Dianbai District in the city of Maoming included more than 100 "employees," including organizers, planners, telephone operators, as well as personal information collectors. The amounts of money involved in the case surpassed 3.4 million yuan (493,000 U.S. dollars).

Guangdong Police will continue to investigate telecom fraud cases, said the department. Endi