The number of economic crimes in China increased by ten percent
to 36,000 during the first half of 2007, said an official with the
Ministry of Public Security on Tuesday.
"A total of 1,247 crimes involved production of fraudulent and
shoddy products, up 24.3 percent on the same period of 2006," said
ministry spokesman Wu Heping.
China also reported 3,695 financial fraud cases and 558
smuggling cases, up 14.3 percent and 23.7 percent respectively. The
number of intellectual property rights piracy cases reached 1,094,
up 2.7 percent.
Cases involving fraudulent mobile phone text messages were also
on the rise.
"We found some criminals from Taiwan had colluded with those on
the mainland to conduct fraud crimes through mobile phone short
messages, and most of them were based in southeast China's Fujian
Province," Wu said.
Almost every mobile phone user in China has received text
messages involving financial fraud, smuggling and pornography. One
of the most common is telling the mobile phone owner that his or
her bank card has been used and asking for his or her personal
information.
Wu said victims of the fraudulent text messages have been found
overseas, including the Republic of Korea, southeast Asian
countries and Europe. And the criminals' bases have moved from
Fujian Province to other places on the mainland.
(Xinhua News Agency August 14, 2007)
