BEIJING - Police from the Chinese mainland, Taiwan and eight countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) shut down two large transnational telecom fraud groups, according to a statement released Wednesday by China's Ministry of Public Security (MPC).

According to the statement, 828 suspects have been apprehended, including 532 mainlanders, 284 Taiwan residents, and 12 from the ASEAN countries including Indonesia, Cambodia, the Phillipines, Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, Malaysia and Singapore.

The police also eliminated 162 criminal bases and solved more than 1,800 fraud cases.

Telecom-based swindling is a crime in which suspects cheat people through the use of telecommunications, and criminals have victimized many through such scams.

Earlier this year, a group of Taiwan natives were found to have organized a telecom-based swindling group and set up a telecommunications fraud network on the Chinese mainland, Taiwan, the Phillipines, Thailand,Indonesia and Vietnam.

In April, a separate group of Taiwan natives were found conducting similar activities in Jinhua City of eastern China's Zhejiang Province.

The networks primarily cheated mainlanders and Taiwan residents, with a total of 220 million yuan (34.41 million U.S. dollars) involved in the two cases, said the statement.

Police from the Chinese mainland and Taiwan continue to pursue additional suspects and the investigation remains under way.