国内英语新闻:Police telecom fraud bust nabs 136 suspects

BEIJING, March 2 (Xinhua) -- Chinese police have seized 136 people for their suspected involvement in telecom scams and uprooted 39 criminal bases, according to a statement released by the Ministry of Public Security on Saturday.

Police also solved 736 cases of telecom fraud, with more than 3.2 million yuan involved in the swindling rings.

A gang led by Taiwanese Soong Yi-fuh was found to have organized telecom scams in the provinces of Fujian and Guangdong in January this year, targeting both Taiwan residents and mainlanders, the statement said.

Police said that Soong was a principal wanted suspect for committing violence crime in Taiwan.

Computers, bank cards and mobile phones used for committing crimes were also captured by police.

Investigation found that Soong had recruited women in the Chinese mainland to set up dens in Fujian Province and asked them to present themselves as young women from Taiwan.

The women pretended to establish relationships with men in Taiwan via telephone, when in fact the purpose of these liaisons was to obtain their personal information on details including identity and property.

The women then asked their "boyfriends" in Taiwan to transfer money to them on the pretext that they were ill or short of living expenses, the statement said.

It is suspected that nearly 60 percent of similar fraud cases were committed by the ring led by Soong.

A series of online shopping fraud cases were also solved by police, according to the statement.