BEIJING - Chinese police have retrieved more than 1.4 billion yuan ($214 million) from telecom fraudsters in a campaign launched November.

The 1.4 billion yuan was recovered after police nationwide busted more than 44,000 fraud cases involving more than 20,000 suspects and intercepted 530,000 bank accounts, according to data from the Ministry of Public Security (MPS).

At least 15 victims have been united with 5.8 million yuan in stolen money, said the police, however, adding that they still need to verify more information and confirm the victims before returning all the stolen money.

Yang Dong, a senior officer with the MPS, said, joint law enforcement between the police and financial institutions has been an effective way to curb telecom fraud.

However, the money recovered is a small fraction of the total that people on the Chinese mainland have lost. In roughly 590,000 telecom fraud cases detected in 2015, the amount swindled topped 22.2 billion yuan, with more than 10 billion yuan transferred to Taiwan.

Earlier this year, with the help of local law enforcement, Chinese police busted a number of fraud rings based in Kenya and Malaysia and got 174 suspects repatriated to the mainland.

The MPS said law enforcement agencies in Taiwan had agreed to help recover and return the stolen money to the mainland.