Chinese police have nabbed 43 suspected fraudsters who conned about 100 million yuan (15 million U.S. dollars) from overseas people who thought they were paying online for prostitutes.

Advertising sex services through messaging app WeChat, the gang induced victims to charge online gaming cards, electronic gift cards and Alipay prepaid cards and hand over their passwords. The gang then transferred the money without providing the prostitutes, according to the police.

Between October 2014 and March 2015, a number of Singaporeans reported the fraud to police in Singapore, who contacted their Chinese counterparts for assistance.

Hangzhou-based Alipay, China's largest online payment platform, received about 1,900 complaints about the scam between October 2014 and April 2015 and reported them to police in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province.

The police announced on Thursday that they busted the gang on Dec. 23 after an eight-month investigation in the provinces of Zhejiang, Hunan, Fujian and Jiangxi.

Some 23,000 cases of telecom and online fraud were reported in Hangzhou in 2015, up 33 percent year on year. Direct economic losses reached 360 million yuan, according to Hangzhou police, who busted 78 telecom and online fraud gangs and arrested 564 suspects in 2015.

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