Financial, commercial cases on the rise

Shanghai's courts handled a record 31,065 financial and commercial cases in 2013, up 34 percent from the previous year, the city's highest court announced Wednesday.

The cases dealt with 44.75 billion yuan ($7.2 billion) in total claims, a 132-percent increase from 2012, according to a white book report released by Shanghai Higher People's Court.

The increase in claims was a result of the rise in the number of cases handled by the local court system, according to the report.

"The number of financial and commercial disputes is expected to continue to rise this year following the establishment of the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone last September," said Yang Lu, the chief financial court judge of Shanghai Higher People's Court.

The city's courts heard 40 percent fewer cases of financial crimes last year, according to the report. The number of cases fell to 1,229 in 2013.

Of the 1,222 criminal cases settled last year, more than 80 percent dealt with credit card fraud. The majority of those cases involved malicious credit card overdrafts.

The court noted a jump in illegal gold future transaction cases, which doubled to 50 in 2013.

In these cases, illegal agencies pretended to have legal qualifications to handle gold future transactions and lured investors with the promise of high returns, said Xu Liming, a chief judge from Shanghai Higher People's Court.

Investors entered the transactions because of their lucrative returns, which left them susceptible to fraud because they were unaware that the agencies had to have special qualifications to handle gold future transactions, Xu said.

"The agencies typically approached investors online or over the phone with illegally obtained personal contact information," Xu said.

In its report, the court advised the local government to strengthen supervision in this regard.

Banks should also stay alert for suspicious money flows, the court said.

Individuals should do a better job protecting their personal information to prevent it from being used for illegal activity, the court said.