Sophisticated telecom scam preys upon more victims

Sophisticated telecom scam preys upon more victims

 

JAN-2014

Tang Wei, the Chinese actress who starred in Ang Lee's movie Lust, Caution, is making headlines at the moment, as the victim of a recent telecom fraud case in which Tang was coaxed over the phone to go to the bank and wire 210,000 yuan ($34,700) to the suspected scammer.

It would have been another "ordinary" case that disappeared among the numerous telecom scams staged in China every day, if the victim were not Tang Wei. In Beijing alone, in just the first five months of 2013, local police cleared up more than 3,900 telecom swindling cases in the city and broke up 10 gangs. The overall number of telecom scams is unknown.

Interestingly, Tang falling victim to phone fraud stirred up an online debate about her IQ. Statistics show that the elderly and those who received less education are more vulnerable to telecom hoaxes.

One Net user quipped: "I don't believe Tang is so stupid. She actually deceives us all - she is buying front pages across the nation with only 210,000 yuan!"

But because of Tang's case, the media have taken a closer look at the ubiquitous telecom fraud, and the public is surprised at how organized and sophisticated the crooks have become nowadays.

In December, Shanghai police, through transnational collaboration, arrested 11 suspects hiding in their "scam headquarters" in a villa in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. This gang, with well-designed plots and professional division of responsibilities, swindled an investment company executive surnamed Lu out of 20 million yuan in October.

In a more recent case, a woman surnamed Huang in Panyu, Guangdong Province, found 27 million yuan transferred out of her account after she received a call and was convinced to open a new digital account. High-tech tools have been wielded by swindlers.

Both cases could not be simply attributed to "low-IQ" scams. In both cases, winning trust from victims is a key step.

Later exposures show how well the suspects know about the target's private information. This is a trickier question if you think about it: In an era when people heavily rely on the telephone or Internet to connect with friends and family members, the only thing to trust is how much private information you share. But apparently, this can no longer be easily trusted.

Telecom fraud organizers have developed a complete industrial chain, with each link being outsourced to independent teams.

This makes police investigation and tracking down increasingly difficult. A strike against telecom fraud cannot be accomplished without comprehensive collaboration. Currently, social awareness appears long outdated, compared with the constantly updating tricks. Tang's case could serve as a good beginning.