Two hundred and fifty four Chinese suspects have been repatriated to China on Tuesday after they were caught illegally operating telephone and Internet scams in Cambodia and Indonesia, according to the Public Security Ministry.

In the ministry's official website, it revealed that the suspects were sent back to Beijing and three other Chinese cities. They are allegedly responsible for about 4000 major cases of cross-border telephone fraud victimizing Chinese people in over 20 cities and provinces.

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No further details of the specifics of the fraud was given, but authorities in Cambodia said that the group rented homes in the beach resort town of Sihanoukville and transformed them into an operation haven. Some had reportedly stayed in Cambodia for up to two years. Authorities are still looking for the masterminds behind the ring. The ministry said fraud is among the fastest growing crimes and some are difficult to solve.

The group's modus reportedly includes exploiting bank transfers, concealing identities and continually altering the nature of their scam to unceasingly deceive victims and evade the girps of the law. Scam like this usually involves the suspects uding fake identities to obtain personal information and provoke victims to transfer money to overseas accounts.

The suspects, who arrived in the country on Tuesday, are the first batch to be sent back following the launch of a campaign against overseas-based telephone scam. The ministry said that it would further strengthen cooperation with foreign agencies in order to "leave criminals with nowhere to rest, nowhere to hide and nowhere to commit their crimes."

As per a post on the website of the national police force of Cambodia, the suspects, which includes 168 Chinese men and 19 women, were flown to China on two chartered aircraft. Police officials of both countries are now working hand-in-hand to find the people behind the ring that the suspects operated. 

Tagsinternet scam, telephone scam, overseas-based telephone scam, scammers flown back to China, China Internet Scam, China Telephone Scam