China will form an international alliance to combat online and telecom fraud, with more than 40 countries already expressing their willingness to join.
The measure was announced at a press conference on 24 July, according to Chinese state media CGTN, with the founding ceremony for the new alliance scheduled for September during the 2026 Conference of the Global Public Security Cooperation Forum in Lianyungang, located in China’s Jiangsu province.
CGTN cited Jiang Guoli, head of the ministry’s Criminal Investigation Bureau, as explaining the aim of the alliance is to establish an “intergovernmental organization with broad participation from law enforcement agencies worldwide.”
China is welcoming all countries to join the new alliance to improve intelligence sharing and the outcome of joint operations, with China itself having defined the combat of telecom and online fraud as a priority for the next five years.
The Criminal Investigation Bureau head noted during the press conference that the “vast majority of fraud operations are currently based outside China.”
While China has been effective in combatting crime on its home turf, a recent United Nations report highlighted that China’s citizens are often the main targets of scam operations and the primary target of illegal online gambling operations.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) report also highlighted that within Southeast Asia, “Chinese-origin transnational criminal organizations constitute the major organizational force behind the region’s cyber-enabled scam economy, operating industrial-scale compound infrastructure across border zones and SEZs (Special Economic Zones) in Myanmar, Cambodia and Lao PDR.”
The recent focus has been on Cambodia, where scam compounds have even used casinos as staging grounds, resulting in the revocation of their licenses by the Commercial Gambling Management Commission of Cambodia (CGMC). However, groups such as Amnesty International have criticized the fact that up to 12 Cambodian casinos had their licenses renewed by the CGMC, despite the human rights group finding evidence of abuses within their confines.
Amongst the strong international scrutiny, China recently reaffirmed its “ironclad” friendship with Cambodia, and Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Manet said in a Bloomberg interview, “We remain committed to cracking down on online scams, and we have already seen results.”
The official specifically mentioned close cooperation with China and the United States on combatting transnational crime, stating “These are common challenges that go well beyond geopolitics.”
Cambodia is now planning to host an international conference on combating online scams, gathering law enforcement agencies from multiple countries including China and the US – the latter to be represented by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
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