Guangzhou authorities have broken up a major credit card fraud operation, arresting 12 suspects and preventing over 1 billion yuan ($143 million) in potential losses.

The criminal ring, operating from October 2022 to March 2023, targeted over 900 credit cards from seven banks. They successfully reissued over 500 cards and fraudulently used more than 230 of them, amounting to 11 million yuan ($1.5 million) in stolen funds.

Police apprehended suspects across multiple provinces, including Hainan, Fujian, and Jiangxi. The suspects have been charged with credit card fraud.

According to a confession from a key suspect, the group purchased a massive amount of personal information — including names, ID numbers, credit card details, phone numbers, and security codes — from overseas social media groups in 2019.

The suspects used this stolen information to impersonate victims, contacting banks to request replacement cards and diverting them to a different delivery address. To avoid detection, they would also contact telecom operators and block message notifications on the victims' phones.

The group then recruited accomplices through social media, offering "part-time job" opportunities. These individuals would receive the stolen cards, conduct fraudulent transactions, and cash out the stolen money. They would then convert their share into cryptocurrency and hand it over to the organization.

The Ministry of Public Security reported cracking down on nearly 5,000 credit card-related crimes nationwide in 2023, involving over 10 billion yuan.