(Yicai Global) Oct. 19 -- China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) will intercept all overseas phone calls altered to purport to be from law enforcement, prosecutors and courts by the end of year, MIIT told thePaper.cn.

Some overseas criminals disguise their phone numbers to appear as originating from these authorities to commit wire fraud.

In response, MIIT intends to employ relevant technologies to intercept such phone calls in active cooperation with law enforcement authorities and jointly research and develop these with telecommunication enterprises and relevant experts. This plan is set to be implemented by the end of year to effectively protect citizens' property.

MIIT has reportedly built a prevention and interception system for telephone fraud. After going online in March this year, it has disposed of 116 million phone calls from home and abroad that are suspected of fraud, and timely dissuaded over 22,000 prospective victims, as well as recouping direct economic losses of more than CNY98 million in cooperation with law enforcement and banks.

Instances of international telecommunications fraud and attendant property losses dropped by 12.3 percent and 30.8 percent year-on-year, respectively, in the first half as a result.