China to launch an international alliance against online and telecom fraud

China says it will form a new international alliance to fight online and telecommunications fraud, with more than 40 countries already expressing willingness to join. For PSPs and acquirers exposed to scam-linked traffic, the important part is not the ceremony — it is the attempt to create a coordinated law-enforcement channel around a fraud problem that has been moving across borders for years.

1. The announcement came at a press conference on 24 July, according to Chinese state media CGTN. The foundation ceremony for the new alliance is scheduled for September during the 2026 Global Public Security Cooperation Forum Conference in Lianyungang, in China’s Jiangsu province.
2. CGTN quoted Jiang Guoli, head of the Criminal Investigation Office at the ministry, as saying the goal is to establish an “intergovernmental organization with broad participation of law enforcement agencies around the world.” China is inviting all countries to join in order to improve intelligence sharing and the results of joint operations.
3. China has defined the fight against telecom and online fraud as a priority for the next five years. Jiang said at the press conference that the “vast majority of fraud operations are currently based outside China,” which tells you where Beijing thinks the operational center of gravity sits.
4. A recent United Nations report said Chinese citizens are often the main targets of scam operations and the primary target of illegal online gambling operations. The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) also said that in Southeast Asia, “transnational criminal organizations of Chinese origin constitute the main organizational force behind the region’s cyber scam economy,” operating industrial-scale compounds across border areas and special economic zones in Myanmar, Cambodia, and the Lao People’s Democratic Republic.
5. Cambodia has been a recent focus. Scam compounds there have even used casinos as operational hubs, prompting the Commercial Gambling Management Commission of Cambodia (CGMC) to revoke their licenses. Amnesty International has criticized the fact that up to 12 Cambodian casinos had their licenses renewed by the CGMC, despite the group finding evidence of abuse inside their premises.

The Cambodia angle matters for high-risk payments because scam ecosystems and online gambling operations are often tied to the same jurisdictions, the same merchant networks, and the same banking pressure points. When regulators and law-enforcement agencies start coordinating across borders, the merchant categories and corridor assumptions PSPs rely on tend to get expensive very quickly.