Want China Times The art of the scam is getting more and more innovative in China as technology advances, with con artists availing themselves of different methods and platforms to steal people's money. One new method that has emerged is to pose as a customer service representative from Taobao, the country's leading e-commerce platform, reports our Chinese-language sister paper Want Daily.
Con artists have been known to pose as Taobao customer service representatives telling customers by phone or online message services that an order they placed is incomplete. The customer is then sent a fake link getting them to enter their banking information in order to obtain a refund from Taobao. Police said victims believe the scammers because they are able to verify their order information and contact details.
Taobao said the information may have been leaked if the user's electronic device has been hacked or if its contracted shipping company illegally sold the information to scammers. Related News
A long engravement: Zhejiang couple carve 200 sculptures of food Six modern scams to avoid in China
Ghost Push malware continues to affect millions of Android users Number of dengue fever cases in Taiwan closing on 18,000
Other scams that have been witnessed in China in the recent past also include:
— The college enrollment scam.
Getting into a good college in China requires getting good grades on the national college entrance exam or "gaokao." Con artists take advantage of people who want to cheat the system and secure a place at a prestigious school but don't have the grades to do so. Having identified a mark, they introduce themselves as people with special connections who can provide an admission letter to the academic institution of their choice. After they secure the trust of the student and their parents, the parents are tricked into paying a considerable amount of money for a worthless or nonexistent document.
— The text scam
Fraudsters send a text containing a link, which when opened allows the scammer to hack into the victim's phone and steal their information. The text may play on the recipient's fears, such as claiming to offer photo evidence of an unfaithful spouse. Or it could fraudulently claim some social connection, such as and "old friend" offering a link to what is purported to be photos of a class reunion. After the link from the text is opened and the victim's phone is compromised, scammers can send further texts using the phone number to the victim's contacts to ask for money, apparently on their friend's behalf.
— The travel scam
In a more complex international scam, a con artist impersonates a travel agent who wants to work with travel agencies overseas. Scammers ask their counterpart agency to sign a contract with them in China to host Chinese tourists visiting the victim's country. After both sides have signed the contract in China, the victim is taken to a local store to purchase luxury goods as a goodwill gift to seal the deal, which promptly disappears along with the travel agent.
— The bank scam
Bank staff have been known to steal their customers' money by urging them to deposit more money by offering fake interest rates of 10% to 20%. The depositors are asked to sign a contract to say that they will refrain from checking their account. Some unwary clients miss this obvious warning sign.
— The hospital scam
Hospital scalpers make money by attracting people to unlicensed hospitals and clinics or selling counterfeit medicines to patients and their families. As it is standard practice in China to take a ticket on arrival and wait for it to be called, these individuals will swoop on people in the waiting room and try to persuade them to come with them.
Top Read »
Updated J-31 unveiled, expected to hit global market in 5 yrs China may launch Type 001A carrier on Mao's birthday: report US to relocate 30,000 marines to counter China in S. China Sea: report PLA's stealth fighters to make US air superiority more costly Chinese naval expert denies PLA joining fight against ISIS China may rent amphibious assault ships from Egypt: Russian media CPC expels corrupt oil chief Wang Tianpu Satellite image shows China's new experimental aircraft Japan worried China will beat it to US high-speed rail projects China may have conducted test flight of world's fastest aircraft