China Overseas Chinese Network, August 3, title: Be careful! Stay away from these "routines"
The new crown pneumonia epidemic continues to spread around the world, bringing many inconveniences to people's lives, and also bringing opportunities for criminals.
In recent days, various tricks and tricks involving the epidemic have been constantly "renovated", making people hard to prevent. Many overseas Chinese and overseas students have suffered losses and their physical and mental health has been seriously affected.
To this end, Xiaoqiao (ID: qiaowangzhongguo) has sorted out the common scams involved in the epidemic, reminding you not to be fooled, and protect yourself and your family's lives and property in special times.
Frequent cases of "virtual kidnapping":
Safety education is necessary
Recently, cases of “virtual kidnapping” of Chinese students abroad have been frequently reported, and related topics once became a hot search on Weibo, attracting the attention of many netizens.
The police in New South Wales, Australia said that since the beginning of this year, a total of 8 Chinese students living in Sydney, Australia have become victims of a “virtual kidnapping” case. In these fraud cases, criminals defrauded a total of more than A$3 million in ransoms, and the ransom for each fraud case ranged from A$20,000 to A$500,000.
"The scammers often pretend that the victim student is suspected of committing a crime and will be deported if he does not pay the fee. The victim is even tricked into renting a hotel room to isolate himself, taking pictures of himself kidnapped and providing them to the other party. Their family members in China will see It will be easier to pay a huge ransom after the photo." "A pair of Chinese parents paid 2 million Australian dollars to'save' their daughter."
Screenshot of the WeChat Official Account "Consular Express" of the Department of Consular Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs
In response to this phenomenon, the Department of Consular Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reminded international students and their families:
Safety education is very necessary. The tricks of liars are constantly being renovated, and the awareness of prevention must be constantly strengthened. Pay attention to the "seven imperatives", that is, no call, no call back, no disclosure, no panic, no silence, no remittance, no confusion, report the crime, and avoid falling into the trap of fraudsters.
Maintain two-way communication. International students should learn to protect themselves, parents should pay attention to and care for their children, and both parties should maintain communication. Parents must be calm when they perceive their children asking for money for various reasons. At this time, the children may be coerced or induced.
Seek help in time. If you are aware that you may be deceived, you should immediately report to the local police, the police where the receiving bank is located, and the remittance and receiving bank, and strive to freeze the payment. At the same time, call the 12308 hotline for help, and the embassies and consulates abroad will try their best to provide support within the scope of their duties.
Help a friend pay for air tickets?
The other party may be a "high imitation number"
Recently, some media reported that visitors to the U.S. were defrauded of buying tickets to return home through so-called "ticket agents" online.
Li Mo (pseudonym) completed the visit and was preparing to return to China. Because he never bought a ticket, he found a user claiming to be a ticket agent on Weibo and bought the ticket through the other party's official account at a price of more than 24,000 yuan.
After making the payment, Li Mo waited for about four or five hours, but still did not receive the ticket issuance information, and realized that he had been cheated.
There are also scammers who have targeted relatives and friends of overseas Chinese in China.
In early June, some netizens shared their experience of "almost being recruited". The criminals used the avatars and account names almost identical to those of the overseas Chinese, pretending to be "high imitation accounts", contacted their friends through social software, and asked friends for help on the grounds that they needed to purchase tickets urgently when they returned home and could only use domestic banks for payment Pay.
This netizen almost believed it to be true. Fortunately, due to network problems, the money was not successfully transferred. The criminals did not succeed when he gave him time to calmly think.
In this regard, the embassies and consulates abroad reminded: According to the requirements of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, during the epidemic period, domestic airlines all adopted the direct sales model for international air tickets. If you need to purchase tickets, you should follow the WeChat official account of "Civil Aviation Network of China" and proceed through the airline customer service center, official website, mobile APP and other channels.
After successfully purchasing a ticket, overseas Chinese can log on to the official website of the Civil Aviation Administration of China to inquire about relevant information, or call the hotline 400-815-8888 or contact the airline to check the authenticity.
Do not purchase tickets through unofficial channels such as ticket sales agencies, third-party platforms, and do not trust any unofficial so-called "chartered flights" information to avoid fraud and cause economic losses.
"Local Bank" texting you?
Beware of information being trapped
Overseas, fake local banks, Chinese embassies and consulates abroad are common routines used by fraudsters.
Recently, Chinese embassies and consulates in Denmark, the United Arab Emirates and other countries have received requests from Chinese citizens for help, reflecting fraud.
Screenshot of the website of the Chinese Embassy in Denmark
Some criminals pretend to be a local bank and send text messages to overseas Chinese in the consular area, claiming that their accounts will be frozen. They need to click on the link attached to the text message to provide identity information and fill in the relevant forms. After the overseas Chinese followed the instructions, the deposit was transferred;
There are also criminals claiming to be officials of the embassy and consulate, falsely claiming that the parties have been investigated for mailing contraband, credit cards have been stolen, etc., requesting the parties to clarify to the relevant domestic authorities, provide personal identification information and bank accounts, and pay fines, otherwise they will face serious consequences.
In order to maintain the security of the property and personal information of local overseas Chinese, the Chinese embassies have issued reminders:
Chinese embassies and consulates abroad will not notify the parties by telephone to receive parcel letters or cases involving domestic China that need to be handled, and will not transfer the parties to the domestic competent authority for further contact, nor will they ask for account information and passwords or request transfers Or remittance, etc. China's domestic competent authorities will not use telephone and social software to contact the parties.
Don't trust the request for bank account, password and other information, transfer and remittance in any name. Regarding remittance matters, be sure to judge carefully and transfer funds carefully.
If you have been deceived, please inform the relevant units as soon as possible and report to the local police so that the police can intervene in time to help recover the losses, and report to the Consulate General if necessary.
Although scams frequently introduce new ones, if we pay attention and distinguish them carefully, we can find that they are actually full of loopholes. Therefore, it is very important to do a good job in safety education and establish a sense of prevention.
Xiao Qiao hereby reminds everyone that we must always be vigilant, stay calm, verify problems first, and spend every day safely.
(Source: China News Network, Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Consular train "micro-channel public number, such as the Global Times; Author: Liu Xi Han; ID: qiaowangzhongguo)