China's public security authorities have arrested a total of 31 South Korean and Chinese nationals for allegedly running an Internet scam ring in the Chinese northeastern border town of Yanbian.

The suspects were among more than 900 people who were detained in a six-month nationwide crackdown on Internet and telephone fraud scams that typically steal victims' money through fake websites where they are asked for personal or financial information.

A statement released by China's public security ministry on Thursday said that the 31 suspects from South Korea and China were recently arrested for allegedly stealing financial information from South Korean victims through a so-called "phishing" scam.

Such scams send e-mails to victims to lure them to fake websites that ask for personal passwords and security codes. Then, the information was used to conduct financial transactions in the victims' names.

Victims lost "more than 3 million yuan (US$469,356) per week" through the Internet fraud ring in Yanbian, the statement said, citing "preliminary statistics."

The statement did not say exactly how many South Korean nationals were arrested and officials at the Chinese ministry were not immediately available for comments.

The Chinese town of Yanbian, where ethnic Koreans account for about 30 percent of the population, is located near the sensitive border with North Korea.

State-run China Daily newspaper reported on Friday that the Chinese authorities started investigating the Internet fraud ring in Yanbian "after receiving evidence from police in South Korea." (Yonhap)