On January 9, the Ministry of Public Security held a press conference to inform about the public security work in 2023. Jia Junqiang, spokesperson of the Ministry of Public Security, revealed that in 2023, public security organs across the country continued to launch a fierce offensive against telecommunication network fraud, cracking 437,000 telecommunication network fraud cases and arresting a large number of criminal suspects.

By the end of December 2023, the National Anti-Fraud Center had issued 9.4 million early warning instructions for funds to all localities, and the public security organs had met 13.89 million people to discourage them. Together with relevant departments, they intercepted 2.75 billion fraudulent phone calls and 2.28 billion text messages, disposed of 8.364 million fraudulent domain names and websites, and urgently intercepted 328.8 billion yuan of funds involved.

A survey by China, a brokerage firm, also found that in the past two years, a number of state-owned banks and stock banks have successively announced the strengthening of credit card capital flow and non-consumer transaction control; In addition, credit card centers, including Ping An Bank and China Everbright Bank, have also announced that they will crack down on "credit card repayment", renting, lending and selling credit cards.

More than 460 cases were filed in various places in the "Ten Provinces Battle"

Credit cards are closely related to people’s daily lives. In 2023, public security organs cracked down on credit card cashing crimes. Jia Junqiang said that from the investigation and handling of cases by public security organs in recent years, the current credit card cashing cases continue to be high and the scope is increasingly wide, which seriously disrupts the financial management order, endangers the security of bank funds and impacts the payment market order.

According to reports, the current credit card cashing case presents the following characteristics:

The first is the networking of criminal means. From the traditional offline POS machine to the online APP, QR code and mobile terminal, it is quick and hidden, with low crime cost and strong reproducibility.

The second is the industrialization of the criminal chain. Including APP software research and development, project operation, publicity and promotion, payment channels and other links, the characteristics of specialization and industrialization are increasingly obvious.

The third is the scale of criminal organizations. There has been a pyramid scheme to develop cash-out members, and the amount involved, the people involved and the areas involved have all increased rapidly.

The fourth is the spread of criminal risk. Cash-out is intertwined with underground money houses, telecom fraud, online gambling and other crimes to promote its development and spread; In the process of cashing out, there is a risk that key information such as cardholder identity information and credit card number will be leaked.

In this regard, the Ministry of Public Security attaches great importance to it, adheres to the problem orientation, and deploys local public security organs to carry out in-depth prevention and crackdown work. On the one hand, actively organize special research. In-depth analysis of the current criminal methods, behavior characteristics and development trend of cash-out activities, and on this basis, targeted prevention and crackdown work.

On the other hand, crack down on it according to law. With the goal of "breaking major cases, fighting gangs and destroying the network", the "Ten Provinces Battle" to crack down on credit card cash-out crimes was deployed from June to August, 2023, and the key cases were attacked by clusters and centralized network collection. During the operation, more than 460 cases were filed in various places, involving a total amount of more than 39 billion yuan, effectively curbing the high incidence of cash-out crimes.

At the same time, close departmental cooperation. Strengthen cooperation with the regulatory authorities, promote the strengthening of source control, and form a joint effort; Strengthen the cooperation between police, banks, police and enterprises, and improve the effectiveness of joint prevention and control.

In addition, strengthen prevention and publicity. Relying on the "5.15" National Publicity Day for Public Security Organs to Combat and Prevent Economic Crimes, and the "Economic Investigation Bureau of the Ministry of Public Security" WeChat WeChat official account and other channels, typical cases of cash-out crimes were released in time, revealing criminal methods, warning the consequences of illegal crimes, and prompting the public to consciously resist cash-out illegal and criminal activities.

437,000 cases of electric fraud were cracked.

Jia Junqiang also pointed out in this press conference that in 2023, the public security organs across the country conscientiously implemented the relevant deployment requirements, and continued to launch a fierce offensive against telecommunication network fraud crimes in accordance with the overall working idea of "four specialties and two synergies", cracking a total of 437,000 telecommunication network fraud cases and arresting a large number of criminal suspects.

Since August 2023, the number of cases of telecommunication network fraud has been declining continuously, and remarkable results have been achieved in cracking down on governance.

Specifically, the first is to always maintain a high-pressure strike hard situation. The whole chain cracked down on telecommunication network fraud and related crimes, carried out three major campaigns of "cutting the chain", "clearing the source" and "sword" in depth, arrested a large number of criminals and cracked a large number of fraud cases; Jointly deployed with the Supreme People’s Court, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate and other relevant departments to carry out the "nail pulling" special action, and successfully arrested 263 major leaders and backbones of telecommunication network fraud criminal groups; Organized the regional battle of "Hubei, Hunan and Lu Yu", and smashed more than 1,800 fraud dens to maximize the effectiveness of scale strikes; In view of the fraud-related black and gray production chain, we organized and launched 277 cluster campaigns against fraud-related fixed-line voice lines, simple networking GOIP, and money laundering, and achieved remarkable results.

The second is to make good use of legal provisions. While severely cracking down on the crime according to law, the public security organs throughout the country were deployed to coordinate the implementation of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) Anti-Telecommunication Network Fraud Law, and the Supreme People’s Court and the Supreme People’s Procuratorate were combined to further improve the applicable standards of the "two cards" crime law, handle cases strictly according to law, continue to intensify the crackdown, comprehensively improve the quality and effectiveness of the crackdown, and form a powerful shock.

The third is to further promote source control and prevention. Relying on the mechanism of inter-ministerial joint meeting in the State Council, we will actively work with relevant departments to strengthen scientific and technological support, strengthen early warning and prevention, adhere to the system concept, further promote the source governance of industry supervision, and strive to build a more rigorous prevention and management system.

The Ministry of Public Security has instructed local public security organs to establish early warning and dissuasion mechanisms at different levels, and promoted the "Xiamen Experience" to take effect nationwide. By the end of December 2023, the National Anti-Fraud Center had issued 9.4 million early warning instructions for funds to all localities, and the public security organs had met 13.89 million people to dissuade them. Together with relevant departments, they intercepted 2.75 billion fraudulent phone calls and 2.28 billion short messages, handled 8.364 million fraudulent domain names and websites, and urgently intercepted 328.8 billion yuan of funds involved.

At the same time, many departments actively cooperate and work together, such as:

1. The People’s Bank of China has further promoted the governance of "capital chain", continuously improved the normal governance pattern of the payment industry, and organized commercial banks, payment institutions and clearing institutions to assist the public security organs in blocking the transfer of a large number of fraudulent funds and recovering a large number of people’s losses.

2. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology continued to promote "Card Breaking Action 2.0", carried out "Bad APP Security Governance", strictly implemented the real-name registration system, made every effort to rectify the virtual business cards, intensified efforts to clean up and rectify key businesses such as SMS ports, voice lines and cloud services, and continuously improved the ability of timely countermeasures in the whole process.

3. The Central Network Information Office concentrated on rectifying key fraud-related areas such as Internet access, domain name registration, server hosting, APP production and development, webcasting, drainage and promotion, and interviewed enterprises with outstanding exposure problems, and the network ecological environment was continuously purified.

The fourth is to strengthen publicity and enhance anti-fraud awareness. Strengthen the accurate publicity of gullible groups, industries with high incidence of cases and key areas, jointly organize and carry out the "National Anti-Fraud in Action" concentrated publicity month activity, organize more than 20,000 anti-fraud publicity activities of "entering communities, rural areas, families, schools and enterprises", send 3.07 billion anti-fraud propaganda messages, and the official government affairs number of the National Anti-Fraud Center released more than 9,800 short videos, with the broadcast volume exceeding 5.2 billion times.

Create a clear space of "there is no fraud in the world"

In fact, in the past two years, a number of state-owned banks and stock banks have successively announced to strengthen the control of credit card capital flow and non-consumer transactions; In addition, credit card centers, including Ping An Bank and China Everbright Bank, have also announced that they will crack down on "credit card repayment", renting, lending and selling credit cards.

This also shows that the current credit card business management is moving towards refinement. Some insiders pointed out that this reflects that all institutions actively respond to regulatory requirements and cooperate with anti-telecom network fraud and anti-money laundering work; At the same time, it is also the only way for credit cards to enter the process of "stock management" in the post-epidemic era.

No matter how the fraud method is updated, the ultimate goal is to cheat money, and this last link will inevitably spread to financial institutions. According to a senior practitioner of a big bank in East China, fraudsters are very familiar with the bank’s lending model and process. "Many of them also used the Pratt & Whitney quick loan products launched by banks after the epidemic to commit crimes."

"Many fraudsters commit fraud in the name of financial technology companies or bank employees, but they are not our employees at all. These are their scorpions and props." A person from a head financial technology company told reporters.

China, a brokerage firm, learned that at present, financial technology groups have set up special anti-fraud technology research groups, invested in technology research and development to improve anti-fraud capabilities, and commercial banks, payment platforms and other institutions are also actively carrying out anti-fraud work to protect the safety of users’ funds, which has become the social responsibility of platform-based enterprises.

In addition to strengthening their own risk control technology, some head financial technology companies choose to cooperate with the public security department to send targeted messages to residents in areas with high fraud, "beware of fraudsters impersonating the identity of the company’s customer service staff."

Editor: Luo Xiaoxia

Proofreading: Wang Chaoquan