China Courts Slow Telecom Fraud Growth

China's Supreme People's Court said Thursday that a crackdown has sharply slowed growth in telecom fraud, reporting more than 159,000 first-instance cases and about 338,000 defendants concluded between 2021 and 2025. The court credited dismantling major Myanmar-based syndicates and tougher prosecutions for the slowdown and announced stepped-up asset recovery and a draft legal guideline addressing AI-enabled deepfakes and other emerging fraud tactics.