China cracks down on $285m worth of scams using fake government documents

BEIJING – Chinese police have cracked down on hundreds of millions of dollars of fraud cases using fabricated government documents to attract investment in fake national projects, state media reported on Dec 26.

Public security agencies have solved more than 260 cases in 2023 and taken down 180 criminal groups related to fake national projects involving 1.5 billion yuan (S$285 million) worth of funds from investors, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

Such scams are often conducted online and with operations based overseas, tricking people into paying initial capital or membership fees, Xinhua reported.

Fake poverty alleviation projects using fabricated government documents and credentials are also common.

Online fraud is particularly entrenched in China, coming at a time when its

slowing economy

is keen to attract investment funds both domestically and from abroad to add vigour to its many sectors and industries.

Global asset managers setting up shop in China grapple with rampant scams where online fraudsters dupe investors with juicy returns on new products using their brands and logos illegally.

In November, Singapore investment company Temasek said there had been scammers fraudulently claiming to represent its Shenzhen office and soliciting money from individuals on the premise of paying them back with commissions.

Chinese police have started to crack down on

online scams operating in Myanmar

where more than 100,000 people engage in telecom fraud each day. Over 31,000 telecom fraud suspects were handed to China by the Myanmar authorities in November. REUTERS