A GROUP of 39 telephone scammers were arrested in Bali, Indonesia, recently by local police along with police from Shenzhen and Zhuhai, the Daily Sunshine reported yesterday.

    The cross-border scam involved more than 40 million yuan (US$6.44 million).

    By pretending to be Chinese policemen, the scammers stole 11.27 million yuan from a Shenzhen IT engineer. The engineer reported the theft to Shenzhen police, leading to an investigation that broke up the Bali-based group.

    Among the suspects, 34 are Taiwanese and five are mainlanders.

    The scammers claimed to be police in phone calls to victims on the Chinese mainland. The scammers used software to hide their real phone numbers, making it difficult to track them down.

    The scammers would tell a victim to download special software. After the victim downloaded the software, the scammers controlled the victim’s computer remotely and transferred money or stole bank account information.

    The Shenzhen IT engineer was scammed when the scammers called him and told him he was under investigation for money laundering. They told the engineer that they had an order for arrest by the Qinghao prosecutors.

    The man opened two new bank accounts and transferred money as instructed. The money later disappeared.

    Shenzhen and Zhuhai police started the investigation after receiving the engineer’s call, and successfully located the criminal group in Bali with the help of Indonesian police. The suspects are now in police custody.

    Lu Fuzhi, an officer from the anti-fraud center of the Shenzhen Municipal Public Security Bureau, said telephone fraud rings are often run by Taiwanese, although he couldn’t provide the exact number of cases.

    According to the report in the Daily Sunshine, Taiwan used to be an “island of fraud.”

    Taiwan struggled with lottery fraud in the 1990s, later kidnapping for ransom and telephone fraud became rampant. Anti-fraud hotlines in 2005 and new laws passed in 2010 pushed many of the scammers out of Taiwan, with many of them setting up shops on the Chinese mainland. (Zhang Xiaoyi)