Telecom scam bilks local woman out of US$2.4m
Print Edition
A 69-year-old woman surnamed Yu who lives in Qingpu District was swindled out of 14.82 million yuan (US$2.4 million) in a phone scam between August 2014 and January, Shanghai police said yesterday.
According to authorities, Yu, a Hong Kong ID-card holder, received a phone call in late July which appeared to be from a local express delivery company. The caller read out Yu’s name and Hong Kong ID number and asked her to confirm whether she had mailed over 100 credit cards to Hong Kong.
After Yu answered in the negative, the caller asked her to call a fake number which was said to be for police in Songjiang District. Yu called the number and spoke to an individual claiming to be a police officer who informed Yu that she was suspected of having laundered 2.18 million yuan via China Merchants Bank with an accomplice surnamed Gao.
The police impersonator told the terrified Yu that authorities needed to verify her personal assets. To complete the verification process, Yu was required to mortgage her apartment and transfer the money to a bank account designated by the fraudsters, who promised to return her funds by February 12. By February 15, when no money was reimbursed, Yu reported the matter to police.
Authorities say Yu’s money was distributed into bank accounts in Taiwan and an investigation is still underway.
In 2014 local police claimed to have cracked 2,840 telecommunication scam cases involving 1,221 suspects, up 1.6 percent and 42.8 percent respectively from the previous year.
Between the start of 2015 and February, authorities claim to have uncovered telecom scams involving 71.32 million yuan, up 12-fold from the same period a year earlier.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
