[Same period] Chinese visiting student Li Mo (pseudonym)
I am a student visiting the United States. When I was on June 22, I purchased a return flight ticket from Los Angeles to Xiamen on July 5 on Weibo and connecting to Seoul via Seoul. But now I am already in the country, the ticket has never been issued, and the ticket has not been refunded to me. As far as I know, there are hundreds of people like me who are anxious to return to China to buy air tickets but have encountered frauds.
[Commentary] The girl in the picture is Li Mo, a Chinese student visiting the United States. In April this year, she successfully completed the visit project and was ready to return home. Because I never bought a ticket. In desperation, she found a user who claimed to be a ticket agent on Weibo, and after repeated confirmation, she placed an air ticket on the other party's public account for more than 24,000 yuan. Unexpectedly, when paying, the problem appeared.
[Same period] Chinese visiting student Li Mo (pseudonym)
At the time of payment, I said that I could only pay the deposit first. After paying the deposit, the other party gave me the ticketing information. I checked with the airline to make sure that there was no problem before paying the balance. The other party said yes, and the ticket can be issued three to five minutes after the deposit is paid. Then I transferred a deposit of 10,000 to the other party, but after the deposit was transferred, the other party told me that it was too long for me to keep the ticket. And my ticket is a special ticket, and he has to pay the full balance before he can continue to issue tickets for me. At that time, I was more lax and transferred it to him. But after the transfer, the other party told me that he had to wait three to five hours before he could issue the ticket. I waited for about four or five hours and have not received the ticketing information, so I felt like I was cheated.
[Commentary] After that, Li Mo contacted the airline to confirm that he did not have his own booking information. So, she submitted a refund to the agent, but the other party repeatedly evaded. Li Mo finally chose the police.
[Same period] Chinese visiting student Li Mo (pseudonym)
I contacted the domestic police in (China). What the police told me was that because my payment operation was overseas, I had to contact my local (foreign) police. (Overseas) The local police did help me to file a case and asked for specific information, but in the end he told me that because the banks are all in China, they have no way to go to China to go through procedures and obtain evidence. When I contacted the police at the location of my household registration, they told me the same thing. Because I transferred money overseas, they had no jurisdiction, so they could not file a case for me. They said to me that if I filed a case in (China), I could send them a letter of inquiry and ask them for assistance.
[Commentary] What Li Mo did not expect was that she discovered that there were not a few foreign students who had the same experience as herself.
[Same period] Chinese visiting student Li Mo (pseudonym)
It ranges from a few thousand (yuan) to tens of thousands (yuan), of which the most cheated is more than a hundred thousand (yuan). Some classmates were originally expected to return to China, but the money to buy air tickets was deceived, and it was not good to talk to the family, and then borrow money from other classmates. Another student asked the other party for a refund, and then the other party asked her to look at the photos and add QQ (unreasonable behavior).
[Explanation] It is understood that most of the social accounts that scam are the same or similar, and the accounts are also consistent or strongly related. Fraudulent “routines” often require a deposit payment, and then send fake ticketing information to trick them into paying the final payment, swindle the refund for various reasons, and even black out the ticket purchaser. Li Mo said he hopes to use this experience to remind everyone to buy tickets carefully so as not to be fooled.
[Same period] Chinese visiting student Li Mo (pseudonym)
I finally made an appointment to buy a return flight ticket through the official website of Xiamen Airlines. I also want to use this experience to remind students who are going to return home to be careful when buying a flight ticket, especially when transferring money to strangers. Verify the identity of the other party. If possible, buy tickets through the official website as much as possible to avoid being deceived.
Reporter Fan Siyi reports from Beijing
Editor in charge: [Wang Kai]