BEIJING — China's public security agencies cracked a total of 256,000 cases related to telecom fraud in 2020, the Ministry of Public Security said on Jan 2.

Some 263,000 suspects were arrested, saving the public 120 billion yuan in economic losses (about $18.4 billion), said the ministry.

A total of 140 million fraudulent calls and 870 million messages were intercepted, and 316,000 fraudulent domain name URLs blocked.

Chinese police also cracked down on fraud and other crimes related to the COVID-19 epidemic, with 7,500 plus suspects apprehended and 16,000 cases settled, the ministry added.