China’s Ministry of Public Security on Friday said it had intercepted no less than 240 million scam phone calls through its online anti-telecom fraud platform, its spokesman said.

Besides phone calls, police departments also intercepted around 930 million scam text messages while shutting down about 328,000 mobile apps and websites related to fraudulent activities, the spokesperson added.

These efforts have prevented about 12.42 million people from falling victims to such frauds, and prevented a collective financial loss of about $37.5bn, according to the spokesperson.

Since 2020, the ministry has beefed up efforts in busting cybercrime and telecom frauds by enhancing cooperation with relevant departments and enterprises.