City sees financial crimes on a downward trend

City prosecutors arrested 1,858 suspects in 1,165 financial crimes and investigated 1,776 cases of financial violations involving 3,361 suspects last year, a Shanghai People’s Procuratorate white book revealed on Thursday.

The cases included 1,301 disruptions of financial administrative order, 303 financial frauds and 146 market order disruptions, it said. 

The number of cases and suspects were on a downward trend compared with 2019, the white book said.

Although the crime of illegally absorbing public deposits still ranked first, it had declined for the first time. Credit card fraud cases fell significantly. In contrast, illegal financial business crimes were increasing, the white book said.

Last year, there were 1,577 criminal cases involving the banking sector and 2,825 people prosecuted, accounting for 89 percent and 84 percent of financial crimes and people involved, respectively, with a year-on-year decreases of 16.60 and 22.92 percent.

There were 152 securities-related criminal cases and 294 suspects, 9 percent of the total number of financial crimes and 9 percent of the total number of suspects in 2020, higher than in 2019.

In 2020, 52 insurance-related criminal cases involving 138 people were prosecuted, both numbers lower than in 2019. However, there were many new criminal methods, including insurance fraud cases related to credit cards, theft, luggage delays and trade credit.

In 2020, Shanghai prosecutors handled the first case of quarterly report fraud and illegal disclosure of important information in China, and the first case of false declaration in manipulation of the securities market in China, according to the white book.

Meanwhile, money laundering crimes were frequent, and the methods of covering up and concealing funds were constantly evolving, according to the white book.

Most upstream crimes are relatively concentrated, mainly in illegal fund-raising with perpetrators using a variety of money laundering methods. Additionally, information technology is being used by criminals to launder money. Virtual currency and game currency have become new ways to launder money, and activities have become more covert, the white book said.