A Chinese student in the UK named Sarah recently transferred about 170,000 pounds (RM1,023,600) to a scam group in more than 10 days after members of the group, disguised as Chinese officials, claimed that she was suspected of financial fraud and that she had to pay bail as soon as possible in order to get out of jail.
As in many other countries, the United Kingdom in recent years, also faced with the increasing prevalence of fraud cases, and fraudulent groups of “global” business model, and the ability to use new technologies often lead to difficulties in law enforcement.
According to the headquartered in Belgium, a large international accounting firm BDO released information in February this year, in 2023 in the United Kingdom within the illegal proceeds of fraud doubled from the previous year to 2.3 billion pounds, the amount of nearly 20 years in the second highest.
The BDO has warned that the amount should be “much higher” than the 2.3 billion pounds. British officials have long implemented the “England and Wales Crime Survey and Research” program information shows that it is estimated that in every seven fraud cases, less than one of the victims has been reported to the police.
The BDO report mentions that the UK’s fraud hotspots are topped by London and the South East of England, with an annual increase in “output” of up to 170%.
The Times published a lengthy report on the 9th of September, in which two Chinese people with experience studying in the UK shared their experiences of being trafficked to Myanmar to engage in fraud, and of being scammed in the UK, respectively, to raise the public’s awareness and encourage victims to raise their voices through the testimonies of the victims.
The report only mentions that the fraud group is a Chinese criminal organization, but does not say whether the group consists of people from other countries or regions.
According to the report, one day when 21-year-old Sarah was in her university dormitory packing for a flight to Hong Kong to visit her mother the next day, her cell phone rang. The caller, claiming to be an official from the Chinese embassy in the UK, claimed that there was a problem with Sarah’s student visa because a financial card in her name was linked to a financial scam in China. She was given a contact number for what she claimed to be the Shanghai police and was told to get in touch as soon as possible.
Sarah then video-recorded a uniformed male who appeared to be a police officer. The man told Sarah that she was suspected of a large-scale financial fraud.
The man then produced a “wanted notice” with Sarah’s photograph and passport details, and claimed that Sarah’s financial cards had played a key role in the fraud, which had swindled 17 victims out of more than Pound300,000.
To enhance the deterrent effect, the man showed Sarah a video of a male jumping to his death from a tall building. The man posing as a police officer told Sarah that the male in the video who had committed suicide was one of the victims and that the money he had been scammed with had been wired to Sarah’s financial card.
The fake police officer claimed that Sarah would be arrested as soon as she entered China, that her mother would suffer the consequences, and that Sarah’s only way out was to post bail immediately.
Sarah was very nervous, even though she suspected that she might have been the victim of identity theft and crime. She believes that there is a real police officer on the other end of the line and that she has been negligent in failing to protect her data.
In addition, it is often seen as unwise to challenge or question law enforcement and security personnel or other “authority figures”, whether in China or Hong Kong. Sarah was also concerned about her UK residency status and the safety of her mother.
Sarah was instructed to cancel her trip to Hong Kong to visit her family and to start raising funds to be wired to a bank account in China.
The fake police officer closely monitored the whole process and warned Sarah not to disclose it to anyone as the case was still under investigation and if Sarah divulged any information, she would be further prosecuted for undermining the investigation.
The fake officer showed her the video again, this time of the arrest and questioning of a fraud suspect. The fake police officer claimed that by watching the video, Sarah would be prepared for what might happen to her if she entered China. Sarah became fearful.
She then asked her mother to temporarily wire in a sum of money because she needed to provide proof of financial resources for administrative procedures. Over more than 10 days, Sarah wired a total of approximately 170,000 pounds sterling. She said her ability to think was significantly diminished due to her high levels of anxiety and difficulties in eating and sleeping properly.
The Times reports that it was only after completing the third transfer that Sarah began to suspect something was wrong and reported the incident to the Chinese and British police. But in all likelihood, Sarah was unable to recover her losses as members of the scam group “disappeared” after emptying and closing her bank account.
She says the experience hit her hard and she was suicidal, but fortunately, her family later came to understand and gave her strong psychological support.
The Chinese police, who are the real deal, later told Sarah that it was almost certainly the work of a Chinese crime syndicate based in Myanmar, with victims all over the world.
Sarah said she had informed the school authorities of the situation. In addition to a partial fee waiver for the next academic year, the university asked her to e-mail a warning to other foreign students to prevent further victimization.
