BEIJING, June 2 (UPI) -- China's Ministry of Public Security announced Tuesday the start of a two month campaign to crack down on fraud cases involving the Internet and cell phones.
Communication technologies have become extensively used channels to defraud the public according to Zhang Xinfeng, an assistant minister for public security quoted.
Xinhua, ghe main government-run news agency, said communication fraud originated in Fujian province and has spread rapidly elsewhere in China, including Guangdong, Hubei, Zhejiang, Hunan and Jiangxi provinces.
Zhang said, "Defrauders usually register a cell phone number with a fake name, and then send false mass messages saying they have won prizes in a lottery or offering very cheap smuggled goods ... some have shifted to new ways of fraud by the Internet, such as fabricating an online auction."
Victims range from workers, farmers and intellectuals to government officials, with losses reaching millions of yuan, Zhang noted.
