China led the world by the end of last year with the number of people making online payments, according to Zhou Jinhuang, deputy director of the Payment and Settlement Department of the People's Bank of China.

Zhou was speaking on Wednesday at the launch ceremony in Shanghai for Online Payment Safety Promotion Week.

According to China National Radio, by the middle of 2012 there were 187 million Chinese consumers making online payments. The number rose to 221 million by the end of last year, meaning that about 40 percent of Chinese Internet users make payments online.

Gu Jian, deputy director of the Internet security bureau of the Ministry of Public Security, told the launch ceremony Internet fraud has been on the rise in Nigeria recently, with African suspects using phishing websites to steal personal information.

Phishing is the act of attempting to acquire information, like usernames, passwords and credit card details, by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication.