CRIME | Locals fall prey to mainland Internet scams

A woman lost RMB130,000 to mainland scammers posing as judiciary authorities last Friday after she followed their instructions to remit the money to an unknown account at a local cyber café, according to the Judiciary Police.
The 40-year-old victim, whose occupation was not disclosed, contacted police on the same day after she received a call in the morning allegedly from staff of an express firm across the border. The victim was later transferred to a public security officer in the same call for being accused of involvement in money laundering with her outbound parcel containing counterfeit identity cards seized by overseas authorities.
Afterwards, the victim was then forwarded to another official from the mainland prosecutions department, who asked her about the balance on her mainland bank account before ordering her to proceed to an Internet café to finish “certain procedures” as part of the investigation.
The victim, who disclosed all her personal information to the authorities by outlining the details of a site provided by them, eventually found there was only RMB17 left in her account and immediately contacted the police on the same day.
In a separate case, another local man in his 40s gave RMB6000 to an unknown group after he received a text claiming that he was a prize receiver from the well-known Chinese reality talent show, The Voice of China.
The man, said to be entitled to RMB108,000 and an apple laptop, clicked on the link in the message directing him to a site where he entered all of his personal information. He subsequently received a call from a staff member purportedly from a TV station, who requested him to remit the amount he lost in the scam to a mainland bank account as a cash pledge. The victim finally realized it was a hoax after being asked for another sum of money for taxation. Staff reporter