In recent months, the growing number of students and teachers falling victim to telecom frauds has drawn wide public attention.  Some families lost most of their savings, and for others, the consequences have been even more tragic.

6,800 yuan, gone in a flash.  Xiaoqin's impoverished family had scrimped and scraped for year.

It started with a call from a person claiming to be a customer service staff, saying she'd overdrawn her credit card limit.

"I don't even have a credit card, so I thought that my personal information had been leaked. I asked the staff to call the police, but the staff said she would help me connect to the police through a so-called internal line."

A second caller claimed to be with the police.

Xiaoqin was told that she was a suspect in a money laundering ring.  And to cooperate with the investigation, she had to remit funds to so-called security accounts.

The caller even sent Xiaoqin to a website displaying a wanted poster of her.

"I found that all of my personal information on the wanted poster was completely correct.  That's why I was convinced that it was real. And then I remitted the money to the account," Xiao Qin said.

But afterwards, Xiaoqin was never able to reach any of the so-called police to get her money back.

And she realized she'd been scammed.

"I feel so sorry for my family. I think I hurt my family. I shouldn't have been so stupid that I lost so much money, when my family is already so poor, I really don't know how to face my parents. I'm so sorry for them."

The case is still under investigation.

In recent months, there have been many more victims like Xiaoqin.

One of the most tragic cases involved Xu Yuyu, a student from a poor family in Shandong province.  She was cheated out of 9,900 yuan after scammers posing as officials from the Ministry of Education told her to pay her tuition fees into their bank account.

The increasing number of such cases has shone a spotlight on China's loose regulation of the telecom industry and easy illegal access to personal information.

The Ministry of Public Security has ordered an intensified crackdown and directed the agencies involved to cooperate more closely to rein in the fraud.