Fraud, Big Silly Style

We've had some other topics and individual postings in other topics about various ripoffs here in China.  I think this is a subject that needs a dedicated spot.

If you have posted about something like this elsewhere in the saloon, please either repost here or post a link to the other discussion.


Here's the latest crime attempt down here in DG.

Wife got a phone call.  It was a recording saying that there was a package for her without a detailed address and the package could not be delivered.  She needed to call and speak to someone to take care of the issue.  She called and was told something about a postal package from Yunnan containing cosmetics and something suspicious.  Since she wasn't expecting any packages from Yunnan (not even unsuspicious ones), she told them to keep the package.  I asked her to call back to find out how whole ripoff worked.  She called, but they said "hang on while we check" when she asked one too many questions and then hung up.

Time to call on the services of my favorite less-than-subtle secret agent, Cantonese Angel 2. (Lunatic's Angels, coming this fall on the Crazy Channel )

We explained the situation to her and gave her the number.  She called gave a completely fictitious name and surprisingly, there was a package waiting for her (what an amazing coincidence!).  She asked for details and was told that the package contained drugs and a lot of money.  The helpful people on the other end of the phone wanted to know all about her job and other info.  she lied and said she was a housewife.  The bad news was that the package was being forwarded to the PSB.  Once it arrived, all of her bank accounts would be shut down.  "Ai ya!!!" said my stealthy investigator, "Whatever can I do to save my money?"  She was told to give them her banking details and they'd protect her account from the PSB.

This is a variation of another fraud circulating through SE Asia.  People get called and told that the police need their bank account details to investigate money laundering.  Once enough information is given, the account is quickly cleaned out of cash.


Anyone else have any Chinese methods to get you parted from your money through the amazing power of gullibility?

60-year-old 'stud' loses savings, fails to have sex, then gets sued

A 60-year-old Shanghai man has been duped out of his savings after responding to a street advertisement for a healthy man to impregnate a rich woman in return for 1 million RMB. As if this wasn't humiliating enough, his friend has also taken him to court in order to retrieve the 6,000RMB he contributed towards the 'investment'.

The wannabe stud-for-hire, surnamed Hou, noticed the advertisement last May. It claimed to be posted by a 28-year-old woman named Jin Yue, desperate for a child. According to the ad, she and her husband could not conceive, but needed an heir to inherit their family business.

In return for the 'services' of a man with a healthy body, good morality and no bad habits, the couple were willing to pay 1 million RMB. Living in a city where women pole dance on the metro to find a husband, we can see how Hou could have believed it to be authentic. That and the fact that he probably wasn't thinking with the head that sits on his shoulders.

Transferring all decision-making facilities to his penis, Hou decided he was the highly moral prostitute the advert was seeking and called Jin Yue's 'cousin' in Jiangxi province. He was then persuaded to pay various sums, including 18,000RMB for legal fees and 9,000RMB for an air ticket and hotel room for the proposed liaison on May 30 last year.

Upon realising his savings weren't enough to totally fund his investment, Hou contacted his most financially-savvy friend, surnamed Li, and generously gave him a piece of the action for just 6,000RMB.

When the fateful day arrived on May 30th, Jin Yue simply kept the money, turned off her phone and failed to show up at the hotel, leaving Hou penniless and unsatisfied as his Marvin Gaye CD (probably) played on loop in the background.

Li brought the case to court after Hou, who lost 33,367 yuan himself, refused to pay the 6,000 yuan back, arguing it was a common investment. The court ordered Hou to pay the debt he owed Li, but thankfully stopped short of executing him.

Hopefuly poor Hou's luck will change in the near future. Surely it will only be a matter of time before his various investments in Ugandan lotteries and emails from overthrown Kings pay off.

http://shanghaiist.com/2012/03/21/60-year-old_stud.php

I've seen those ads and was wondering how it worked.  For some reason, my wife didn't want me to volunteer to check it out.

I've also wondered what the scam was with those ads. Same with all the job ads you see posted by the bus stops looking for people to make like 5000rmb a month working in trucking or at nightclubs.

Someone tried a scam on me once, about 5 years ago. It went like this -- I was at the long distance bus station, coming out of the bathroom. A man ran by, and dropped a wad of cash. Me and another guy saw it. The other guy took the cash and approached me and offered to split it. I told him we'd better return it to the guy. No, he insisted, let's split it. I said look, the guy couldn't have gotten far, just return it. Then another guy came over and was all, what's going on here, and also encouraged me to split the money. At that point I was like look I don't have time for this, my bus is leaving, and just left.

Come to find out though, this is a fairly common scam. Apparently if you agree to split the money the original guy will come back and say his wallet had some large amount of money in it. The second guy who split the money with you will claim that he took half of the huge amount (say the "wallet" had 500rmb in it, you took 250 the other guy took 250, but the original "owner" will say the wallet had 5000, and the other guy will back him up and say, that's right, I took 2500 and this guy here took 2500 too). When you claim you did not, in fact, take this large amount of money they will claim you're a lying cheating scum and threaten to beat the shit out of you if you don't return the money. Since you were in the wrong in the first place for taking the money (you should have returned it right away you asshole!) you are likely to be intimidated by these threats. It doesn't work too well if you don't have money on you but that's why they tend to hang around train and bus stations because most people do not travel empty handed.

It was funny when it happened because as soon as I got on the bus and told my husband what happened he was ZOMG! SCAM! You coulda lost your money (in fact, I had like 30rmb on me)! But these people did not count on the innate honesty of foreigners, I guess. Just the other day my husband was reading some Chinese editorial type site and the exact. same. story came up, right down to the foreigner who refused to split the money. I was like wait, is someone we know pilfering material from our real lives? Heh.

I think the scammers hope that you'll be the one to pick up the money, then they approach you and since they "saw" the guy drop it, they'll claim you need to split it with them or else the gig is up and they'll report you. It is probably the rare person who would not reach for this huge honking pile of cash on the ground, especially in China.

I think the guy approached me because I definitely noticed the money dropping and made eye contact with the guy who picked it up. If you had legitimately picked up a wad of cash on the ground you'd probably be pretty paranoid about being caught taking it and might conceivably try to win the witnesses over with cash.

I was really confused though at the time! I honestly did not realize it was a scam until I was back on the bus telling my husband what had happened. I was pissed off that the guy wouldn't give me the money back, but I didn't understand at all how it could have been a scam when people were asking me to take money, not asking to take my money. I'm glad I didn't stick around to find out how the scam would end though!

There are a lot of variations on that.  I heard of one where someone "accidentally" dropped a clear plastic bag with money in it.

Another variation of "I'll split it with you" fraud uses a fake 100 RMB note.  Naturally, you get to give the other person a good 50.