BEIJING -- Chinese police have cracked about 101,000 cases related to telecom and internet fraud in the first half of this year, and arrested 92,000 suspects, up 73.7 percent and 78.4 percent year on year, respectively, the Ministry of Public Security said Tuesday.

According to data released by the ministry, altogether 16,000 fraud cases related to the COVID-19 epidemic were busted, and 7,506 were arrested.

Public security organs have strengthened technical countermeasures and intensified funds interception against dubious practices. They intercepted 120 million fraudulent phone calls and blocked 210,000 fraudulent websites, thus averting economic losses of 66.6 billion yuan (about $9.53 billion), said Liu Zhongyi, a ministry official.

The fraud alert hotline prevented approximately 5.61 million people from being deceived, Liu added.