Pudong cops defeat two telecom scams

Pudong New Area police have foiled two telecom scams whose perpetrators tried to rip off 580,000 yuan ($94,625) from their victims, police said Thursday.

The scammers sought to convince their targets that they were in trouble with the law and needed to transfer their savings to a special account to protect it from seizure, according to a police press release.

In a twist on what has become a common scheme, the perpetrators persuaded their targets to hold up in a hotel room alone without telling their families until they could complete the money transfer.

In the first case, an elderly woman went to a police station to report that her daughter-in-law, surnamed Xu, suddenly left home with her bank card after receiving a phone call.

Police suspected Xu may have been targeted by telecom scammers and tried calling her cellphone, which was busy. They sent her a text message, but received no reply. Afraid that she might go through with the money transfer, they used surveillance video footage to track her to a hotel on Huashan Road.

Xu refused to open the door for either the police officers or her husband, who had accompanied them. After about 10 minutes, they managed to persuade her that she was being scammed.

Xu later explained that the person who initially called her had claimed to be a police officer with the Jinshan District Public Security Bureau. He told her that she was in trouble over a commercial debt and police were on their way to arrest her. He advised her to go to a hotel and transfer the 200,000 yuan in her bank account or risk having it confiscated.

In another case, a local resident sought help from police after his mother inexplicably checked herself into a hotel room with the intention of transferring 380,000 yuan to a stranger's account. When police went to the room, Xu refused to open the door. Officers broke into the room several seconds before Xu told the scammer her bank card password.