564m Chinese went online in 2012

China had 50.9 million new Internet users in 2012, bringing the total to 564 million by the end of the year, official data showed Tuesday. Mobile Internet browsing made up much of those numbers, with a report from the China Internet Network Information Center saying 420 million people used mobile phones as their primary method for Web surfing. Online shopping was also up, with 242 million shopping online, and increase of 24.8 percent from the year before, China's state-run Xinhua News Agency reported. There was a parallel surge in micro-blogging, the network center said, up 58.73 million to 309 million. Officials were warning that phishing websites and online fraud were also increasing as more and more Chinese went online.