Police in Shanghai have prevented more than 100 potential cases of telecommunication fraud in the first nine months of this year through an initiative with local banks to stop the crime before it occurs, according to a news release issued Monday.
The initiative has saved local residents more than 3.2 million yuan ($511,360), according to police.
Songjiang district police have been educating local bank employees to recognize fraud cases and convince their clients that they might be getting cheated when they transfer large sums of money to dubious recipients.
Telephone scammers in Shanghai often try to cheat locals by convincing them to transfer money under false premises.
For example, a client of a Bank of Shanghai branch in Songjiang district received a call from someone posing as a staff member at the local prosecutor's office. The caller asked the man to transfer 230,000 yuan to a "safe" bank account.
When the man went to the branch on August 2 to transfer the money, the bank clerk noticed he was nervous and inquired about the transfer. After listening to the client's story, the clerk stopped the transaction.
As part of the initiative, local police are offering rewards to bank clerks who prevent clients from getting ripped off. So far, 19 bank clerks and security guards have received rewards.
Most victims of telecommunication fraud in Shanghai are elderly residents or people who don't pay close attention to the police's public service announcements, said Wu Yi, a press officer from the Shanghai Public Security Bureau.
"We've put up notices about this kind of fraud at banks and on television, but many people don't spend much time learning about it," Wu told the Global Times.
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