Hong Kong, China:ย A person from China was arrested in Tanzania for cyber fraud, raising questions about the worldwide posed by Chinese cybercriminals, according to the HK Post.ย
As per the information shared by Asian News International (ANI), the suspect from China was reportedly one of 11 people detained in December for engaging in cybercrime, as per the Hong Kong-based tabloid.ย
As per the report shared by the news agency, the Chinese national was allegedly caught sending unauthorised equipment to connect individuals by phone to communicate abroad against the violation of current Tanzanian telecommunications authority legislation.ย
A massive amount of equipment, including 23 mobile phones, 437 phone lines from various lines of telecom service providers, six PCs, five SIM boxes, three routers, as well as one power bank, were recovered from the suspects.
The HK Post reports that eight more people were also involved in the criminal activity, which included creating social media profiles to spread untrue information against the president of Tanzania, Dr Samia Suluhu Hassan, and other key government figures.
According to the article, the individuals are also suspected of publishing false and deceptive material on local internet television networks.
The HK Post mentioned in the statement that eight other locals were also a part of the crime, which included setting up accounts for social media for sharing false information about the President of Tanzania, Samia Suluhu Hassan, as well as the other senior government officials.ย
Along with this, the report further highlighted that the suspect was also posting fake as well as misleading information on online television channels.ย
The report of the cybercrime was shared in Tanzania following the theft of around $20 million from US Covid relief funding in December of last year by a hacking group known as “APT41” with ties to the Chinese government and operating out of Chengdu.
The hackers with ties to the Chinese government, “APT41,” is situated in Chengdu. As per the report shared in the month of December, other federal investigations of pandemic fraud also appear to link foreign state-affiliated hackers, as per NBC News, which cited the nation’s Secret Service.
