China's Ministry of Public Security on Wednesday announced that police around the country dealt with 27,000 economic crimes and recovered 18.06 billion yuan in the first half of the year.

Police recorded 36,000 economic crimes involving losses worth 80.4 billion (US$10.6 billion) in the first half, up by ten percent from the same period last year.

Economic crimes included illegal pyramid selling, illegal public fund collection, and text message frauds.

A ministry official said economic crimes affected a large number of people and an increasing number of criminals were using the Internet or other high-tech means to commit economic crimes. Cross-border economic crimes were also on the rise.

Almost every mobile phone user in China had received text messages involving financial fraud, smuggling, and/or pornography. One of the most common scams involves telling the mobile phone owner that his or her bankcard had been used and asking for his or her personal information.

(Xinhua News Agency August 30, 2007)