Ministry reveals 5 financial crime cases

The Ministry of Public Security has revealed five major suspected financial crime cases, highlighting its ongoing crackdown on illegal financial activities. Suspects face allegations ranging from illegal business operations to loan, insurance and credit card fraud.

One of the cases involved a suspect surnamed Zhang, who had been recruiting dozens of people for a predatory lending business since October 2022, the ministry said in a news release.

The group had developed and operated 26 online lending apps overseas, and lent money to people in China at weekly interest rates of 30 to 35 percent. The organization had lent 560 million yuan ($78 million) to more than 50,000 people. In August this year, Shanghai police captured Zhang and 21 other suspects.

In another case involving 80 million yuan, police in Suzhou, Anhui province, started investigating an organization headed by a suspect surnamed Zhao in March.

The police found that the organization was recruiting people via social media to purchase, sell, obtain and use more than 3,000 bank cards that belonged to others.

In August, on the basis of this case, the economic crime investigation bureau of the Ministry of Public Security deployed police across the country to carry out a crackdown which led to the capture of Zhao and another 37 suspects.

A third major fraud case was investigated by police in Rizhao, Shandong province. The investigation found that since last year, suspects, including one surnamed Wan, had manipulated people who didn't have the ability to repay loans to borrow money from banks and buy luxury cars.

The suspects would then fake documents — including no dues certificates, letters of authorization and banks' business licenses — conceal the outstanding loans and sell the cars to cash out, causing great losses to the banks.

The police captured Wan and 15 other suspects in June. The case has been referred to the procuratorate for review and prosecution.

The other two cases dealt with alleged organized insurance fraud that had occurred in a number of regions in the country, as well as stealing and purchasing credit card information online.