China to step up tough crackdown on telecom scams: senior official

BEIJING -- China will step up its tough crackdown on telecom and online fraud, a senior security official said Thursday.

Addressing a national teleconference, State Councilor Wang Xiaohong said the authorities will keep launching successive waves of crackdowns, "leaving no breathing room for telecom fraudsters."

Wang, who is also a member of the Secretariat of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, underscored the need for a comprehensive approach, calling for close monitoring of fraud-related individuals, phone cards, networks and channels to ensure effective law enforcement.

He also stressed the importance of prevention, with targeted early warnings, stronger technological safeguards, and broader public awareness efforts to build a robust protection network.

Wang urged deeper law enforcement cooperation to squeeze the operating space of telecom fraud, adding that China would contribute its solutions to tackling this global problem.