Chinese police announced Thursday an "intensified" three-month national campaign against invoice fraud.

Liu Jinguo, vice minister of public security, told local bureaus in a teleconference to "give a destructive blow" to gangs creating and trading fake invoices and crack down on businesses buying them to evade taxes.

Fake invoice vendors are common in Chinese cities, where they offer receipts used for tax purposes.

Police have cracked 1,119 cases of bogus invoices so far this year, arresting 1,613 counterfeiters, the ministry said.

Another 212 people were arrested in 237 cases of tax evasion with fake invoices, which involved 587 million yuan (85.9 million U.S. dollars), it said.

(Xinhua News Agency June 19, 2009)