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Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying's Regular Press Conference on December 5, 2014
Q: The Kenyan police arrested 77 Chinese people suspected of financial fraud. Please give us more details on this case and what efforts has China made.
A: We have noted this report. Investigation is still underway and initial assessment shows that this is likely to be a telecommunication fraud case. China and Kenya enjoy long-standing friendship, and the Chinese side resolutely supports the Kenyan side in combating all forms of illegal and criminal activities. We will actively cooperate with the Kenyan side to carry out investigation and handle the case in accordance with law. Meanwhile, we also hope that the Kenyan side can safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese citizens being involved and properly deal with this case in a law-abiding and just way.
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ALLEGED CHINA DAILY REPORT SENT OUT BY CHINESE EMBASSY ALLEGEDLY BY MISTAKE:
(sic)
Arrested 77 suspects in Nairobi may be involved in a telecommunication fraud and China will cooperate with relative parties to break the case, according to the Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Hua Chunying.
Hua said China and Kenya enjoy a long-term friendship and China strongly supports Kenya’s efforts on fighting against all kinds of crimes. China will also collaborate with Kenya to conduct relative investigation and bring criminals to justice, she said in a regular press conference in Beijing on Friday.
“We also hope Kenyan authorities could ensure Chinese citizens’ lawful rights, and process this case in a justice and lawful manner,” she added.
Earlier this week Kenya police found a large number of unregistered communication equipments in a villa near the office of United Nations Environment Programme in its capital city Nairobi, when they were investigating over a fire that killed one Chinese.
When spotted the equipments and many other suspicious tools in the house, the police then arrested 77 suspects.
Sources said one of the suspects is a Thailand passport holder and the rest are from the Chinese mainland and Taiwan.
Tele fraud gang’s dens previously were found in various regions and southeastern Asian countries including Indonesia, Philippine, Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, Malaysia and Singapore. This case may further signal a relocation of this kind of crime ring to Africa.
The number of telecommunication fraud cases in China has exceeded 300,000 in 2013, resulting in a loss of more than 10 billion yuan ($1.63 billion), according to Chinese National Congress deputy Chen Weicai.
This kind of crimes mostly targeted at Chinese citizens by calling them to transfer certain amount of money to designated accounts based on fabricated reasons and the callers were normally in the name of a public authority, including police, court, or banks. As the callers’ number appeared on the cell phone was changed to the official number of respective authority by special technologies, so victims followed their instructions although with suspicions.
In October, Egypt police unearthed a fraud ring and arrested 96 Chinese suspects accused of telecommunication fraud. The police said 56 of them are from the Chinese mainland and the other 40 are from China's Taiwan province.
In May, police from Fujian province uncovered two fraud gangs. In one case, a woman surnamed Shi from Shishi city was defrauded over six million yuan. The woman was called continually since March 30 by people claiming themselves as officials from post office, public security bureau and procuratorate. They told Shi that she was suspected to be involved in money launder and needed to transfer her money to safe accounts.
The police arrested 35 suspects and found the two gangs were based in Indonesia and Kenya. They carried out the fraud and then drew the money in Taiwan.
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