Telecom fraudsters cast long shadow(3)

Lost investments

Li and the others worked and lived on the company's premises, with only the management personnel allowed to leave.

The work team Li was with comprised about 20 people, all of them Chinese, with each having two smartphones to download apps to find potential victims.

The group was instructed to use "sweet talk" to engage with victims, before getting them to make an investment, in which the victims ended up losing their money.

Li posed online as a successful businessman. The group members targeted divorced or single women, and created posts claiming they were single themselves. By discussing their financial situation, they slowly persuaded their victims to invest in a certain app offered by the fraudulent company, making it difficult for the victims to retrieve their money.

Li was required to interact with dozens of women a day. If a victim asked to meet him in person or via video chat, the company made excuses for Li not being available.

"We were instructed to keep track of the people we talked to each day, otherwise, we would be penalized and not allowed to eat or sleep," Li said.

He once considered calling the police, but everyone at the company and their mobile devices were monitored closely. Li was also intimidated by others at the company, who warned that calling the police would lead to "terrible consequences" and that he would be locked in a water dungeon.

Due to his poor performance, the company demanded 150,000 yuan from Li's family members as a ransom, which they could not afford. As a result, Li was sold to another fraudulent company.

In October 2020, at the last company, Li said he wanted to go out for a meal, as he had not enjoyed good food for a long time. He promised to do his best to make money for the company. While outside with his superiors, his phone was returned to him, and he saw his chance to escape.

Moments after their manager left, Li and two other men took a taxi and traveled for more than three hours. At a restaurant, they obtained the contact details of a human trafficker, before joining about 10 other people to return to China.