Credit cards of Visa Inc and Mastercard Inc Photo: VCG

 
Police in south China's Hainan Province said Thursday they had cracked a credit card fraud ring involving 500 million yuan (71 million U.S. dollars).

The municipal public security bureau of Sanya said they had arrested 12 suspects and seized over 1,700 credit cards and 300 POS machines from the gang's four dens.

The ring had illegally collected citizen's information to apply for credit cards before using POS machines to cash out in a scheme that seriously damaged the province's financial order, police said.

The bureau said they would thoroughly examine the potential risks in the province's financial sector and take a hard line on financial crimes to improve the business environment.

Hainan is building China's largest pilot free trade zone, with new policies promised to open up its financial sector.