BEIJING, May 28 (Xinhua) -- While transferring money at a Chinese bank, the cashier often asks whether the receiver is an acquaintance. The cashier does not intend to infringe on your privacy, but to prevent you falling victim to telecom fraud.

A Beijing center for telecom-fraud control prevented nearly 2 billion yuan (313 million U.S. dollars) of losses in 2017 by freezing the accounts of suspects.

The center is the country's only investigation and monitoring center against telecom and cyber fraud.

Officer Zang Xuemin said the center brings together police, telecommunications operators and banks, monitoring phone numbers associated with fraud around the clock.

Once a case is reported, the center intervenes to stop the transfer or freeze the suspect's account, if the transfer has been made.

Officer Su Xingbo said that earlier this month a man was about to transfer 13 million yuan to an account owned by a suspect pretending to be a court official to avoid a "lawsuit," when Su called him to halt the payment.

Nearly 40,000 people were told by the center to stop transfers in 2017, according to Zang.