Mongolia arrests 800 Chinese nationals in cyber crime raids

Operation targeted huge crime ring suspected of fraud, identity theft, money laundering and computer hacking

(Getty/iStock)

Police in Mongolia have arrested 800 Chinese citizens as part of a major probe into cyber crime.

Raids in the capital of Ulaanbaatar on Tuesday also resulted in computer equipment and mobile phones being seized by authorities.

Gerel Dorjpalam, who heads Mongolia’s General Intelligence Agency, said those apprehended are suspected of crimes ranging from fraud and identity theft, to money laundering and computer hacking.

The raids, first reported by Reuters, followed two months of investigations into the cyber crime ring and followed similar arrests of 324 Chinese nationals in the Philippines last month.

“As of this moment, we suspect they are linked to money laundering,” Mr Dorjpalam said in a media briefing on Wednesday. “We are looking into the matter.”

The Chinese citizens arrested during the latest raids had come into the country on a 30-day tourist visa, the Chinese embassy in Ulaanbaatar confirmed.

“The police department of Mongolia has taken the necessary measures in this case and is currently in the process of investigating,” a spokesperson for the embassy said.

“China and Mongolia will have open law enforcement and security cooperation, and the two parties will be working closely together on this matter.”

The raid comes mid reports of state-sponsored cyber attacks emanating from China, with security firm FireEye revealing details of the notorious APT41 hacking group in research published on Thursday.

The group allegedly used malware to steal private text messages sent between high-ranking military and government targets in the US.

The hacking tool “allows China to efficiently steal data from multitudes of sources from one location,” said FireEye director Steven Stone.

He added: “Espionage-related theft and intrusions have been long occurring, but what is new is the vast scale due to the use of this tool.”